Perseus Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
by DarwinAGS
Summary: Harry Potter wasn't the only one who lived. Join him as he gets reunited with a fellow survivor, meets a three headed dog and tries to get to the Philosopher's Stone before a traitor does. All in a day's work for a wizard.
1. Prologue

"Alohomora!"

The door of the house flew open, revealing the storm that brewed outside. And a man draped in a black cloak. But not just a man, no, this man was special. He was a wizard.

Now I know that you guys, being the awesome people you are, can tell that this particular wizard is a bad guy.

It's pretty damn well obvious.

What with lightning and all the darkness and the way he entered. Rude if I say so myself, he didn't even knock!

Anyways, two brave souls stepped in the way of this dark wizard. Two flicks of the wand and they were met by death. These people, too, wizards but were good hearted.

Their names were Alistair and Natalie Johnstone.

Their bodies fell to the floor, lifeless. The man stalked his way up the stairs, his cloak trailing behind him. Pictures on the wall showed a family of four together, smiling. An action that did not take place in the household that night.

The dark wizard was intercepted by another brave soul who dared to stand up to him. Spells were exchanged. Sparks flew, charring the wallpaper. But there can only be one winner in a duel.

Another corpse fell to the ground.

The corpse of James Potter.

The dark wizard walked over the body as if it were nothing but yesterday's trash.

Meanwhile, in the bedroom, a woman with red hair was talking to three children that were in a cot. Two boys and a girl. But she was not sending them to sleep. She was saying goodbye.

"You are all loved," she whispered, tears falling down her face, "You are all loved so very much. My sons; your father loves you, I love you so, so much."

She turned to the girl. Despite not being her daughter, she addressed her the same way.

"Elizabeth McLean Johnstone. Your parents love you. They might have taken their last breath, but their love for you will not die."

The door smashed into pieces. The dark wizard wasted little time on the woman, giving her one chance to move aside, but she refused to give up the infants easily. But, like she said, her love for the children did not die with her.

Lily Potter's love lived on.

Her killer did not regard her dead body, but moved on to the infants. Barely a year old, these children could not have defended themselves. But as it soon turned out, they did not need to.

The dark wizard cast the killing curse at the children. But death met the person who cast the spell, which backfired on itself.

An explosion rang through Godric's Hollow that Halloween night. When it died down all that was found was one of Lily and James's children: Harry James Potter. The only reminders of that event that Harry has is a scar on his forehead, shaped like the lightning that rained down that fateful night.

* * *

 **The next day, The Daily Prophet, the newspaper of the wizarding world, had a front page article about The Boy Who Lived:**

An explosion in Godric's Hollow last night took the lives of six wizards last night. The cause of the explosion is unknown. Both Mr James Potter and his wife Lily Potter died last night, along with one of their children. More on page 7.

They wrote about the two other children who died whose bodies were not found. They called it a sad loss.

I call it a lie.

After all, how could two of the three be dead if I am alive?

* * *

 _ **All right. Prologue done. I forgot that James actually left his wand in the living room. Oops. Sorry. But as this is my story I'm not going to change it. Besides, it doesn't make any difference to the storyline apart from that fact that James put up a fight.**_

 _ **Also, I am basing this story off the HP movies, but I will try to put some stuff from the books in there.**_

 _ **Also, I do not own the surname Johnstone. It belongs to my friends Oscar and Agatha and anyone else who may have that surname. I say this because somebody kept passing me off saying I stole their surname.**_

 _ **See you guys soon.**_

NAYT


	2. The Cupboard Under the Stairs

{NAYT does not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. They belong to J.K. Rowling and Uncle Rick accordingly. NAYT also doesn't own Dairy Milk, Hallmarks or Freddo} 

* * *

Harry wished he could live in his dreams.

He was dreaming about his mother and father but they were still alive. He and his father were tossing the old pigskin around. His mother sat on blanket, laughing at the two. Everything was peaceful.

But it just had to be his cousin's birthday.

Dudley came running down the stairs, stomping as much as he could on the way down. Then he turned around and did the same upstairs, and charged down, yelling loudly.

"Harry, Harry! Get up! It's my birthday!" Dudley screamed.

Harry reached over for his glasses and put them on. His bedroom (the cupboard under the stairs - courtesy of his uncle) came into focus as he heaved a huge yawn. He stood up and reached for the door. His absolutely smashing cousin slammed the door into his face as he dashed, giddy as a kipper.

Harry groaned and rubbed his temples as he picked himself up and walked into the kitchen. Uncle Vernon met him by the door. He pointed to the hob.

"Go boy," he snarled quietly, "and don't burn anything."

Harry silently went to the cooker and started to make breakfast. He could hear his Aunt Petunia smothering Dudley with birthday enthusiasm.

"Oh, I can't believe my little Dudley is another year older!" He heard his aunt say.

See, Dudley was an only child. And a common thing with only children is that they are spoiled. Sometimes, it's only small things, like the children always getting the thing they want, but not asking for much.

Dudley Dursley was far from being mildly spoiled.

The latest phone. That was in his back pocket. The biggest toy. In the lounge, waiting to be played with.

They even always got him the most expensive chocolate. Personally, Harry preferred a bar of Dairy Milk anyway.

Even though Harry had been brought up with Dudley, his aunt and uncle had raised him like a slave, always making him do the handiwork around the house.

Sometimes he thought they had some sort of prejudice against him originating from his parents he never got to know.

Harry was pulled out of his thoughts and placed the pan of bacon on the table. He had become a very good bacon chef from all the mornings he had cooked it.

Across the room, Aunt Petunia had covered Dudley's eyes and was leading him to the lounge.

'Full of presents.' Harry thought sourly, 'How many have they got him this year?'

Harry followed his relatives into the lounge. The said room was decorated in an abundance of bunting. There was a big foil balloon that read 'Happy Birthday Dedly'. Harry  
had to stifle a laugh at the typo. He didn't think the people at Hallmarks were that terrible at literature. Also, scattered around the room were dozens of gifts of various  
different shapes and sizes. Different colours and ribbons adorned the boxes.

Aunt Petunia's hands moved away from Dudley's grubby face. He glanced around the room, looking at all the presents. He frowned at his father.

"How many are there?" Dudley asked him. Uncle Vernon looked a little bit worried as he spared a look at his wife.

"36, but..."

"36!?" Dudley screamed, "But last year I got 37!" He looked utterly disgusted with his parents.

Harry took one look at his uncle and worked out that he was trying to work out a solution to this 'major' problem.

Harry was actually exceptionally smart for a boy who didn't go to school. He was also exceptionally talented at reading his uncle.

Harry and his uncle had different questions in mind. Uncle Vernon was thinking 'what am I going to do?'

Harry's thoughts were along the line of 'should I?'

He decided on trying the 'Fuck it' option.

He went over to his uncle and, whilst Aunt Petunia was trying to comfort Dudley, suggested his idea.

Vernon grudgingly agreed that his solution was wise. He told his nephew that he would get a Freddo later that day.

Uncle Vernon turned to his wife and son, who were arguing. Dudley's chubby face was red with anger.

"I got more last year, why have I got less now?" He cried.

"But sweetie, some are bigger than last year?" She said, as if asking herself that question.

"Here's an idea," Uncle Vernon interrupted, "We'll buy you two more presents at the zoo today. How does that sound?" 

* * *

"One step out of line boy," Uncle Vernon snarled, "and no meals for a week! Understood?"

"Yes Uncle Vernon," Harry replied.

His fat uncle let go of his t-shirt and brushed down his shirt. He went back to his son and was staring at the animals with him.

Harry's visit to the zoo hadn't gone as he'd planned. He didn't get to see the lions like he'd wanted to. In fact, most of the animals had been asleep. Also Harry was extremely pissed at his uncle, as the obese slob had turned his back on the deal they had made in the lounge earlier that day.

And to add to all of that he was sure he was getting stalked.

Everywhere he went, a hooded figure followed. He was sure he didn't know this person, but some gut feeling inside told him he did.

'What the hell would anyone want to stalk me for?' He wondered, as he followed his cousin into the reptile house. 

* * *

The reptile house was full of different habitats for all the different animals. There were crocodiles, snakes et cetera.

Inside, Harry spotted Dudley watching a boa constrictor through a glass window. Harry walked over and stood beside him.

"Why isn't it doing anything?" Dudley asked with a harsh tone.

"It's asleep," Harry responded calmly. 'Stupid moron,' he added in his mind.

"Well, make it wake up," his cousin huffed, "Daddy! Make it wake up!"

Uncle Vernon toddled over to the window. First, he attempted the diplomatic approach.

"Wake up!" He hissed. That didn't work. So then, he tried a different idea.

He whacked the glass hard and yelled, "WAKE UP!"

That didn't work either.

"Oh, forget it. This one's boring. Maybe there's something that exciting in here," Dudley said as he ran to the lizard habitat.

Harry stayed where he was. The snake's head popped up. So it had been pretending to be asleep. _Clever reptile_.

"Sorry about him," Harry told the snake, "It must be quite annoying with all the people tapping that glass all day."

To Harry's utmost surprise, the snake nodded. Harry's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. He continued to talk to the snake.

"You must be very lonely. I mean without your brothers and sisters in..." Harry took a moment to find out where he was from, "Brazil."

The snake turned its head towards a sign on the side of the habitat. It read, in big red letters:

BRED IN CAPTIVITY

"Oh," Harry said plainly. Suddenly, Harry felt himself fall sideways to the ground. He landed uncomfortably on his left hand.

"Look, daddy, it's awake now!" Dudley shouted from above him.

Harry felt angry. Scratch that, he was enraged. Dudley had pushed him over the line. He was actually having a decent conversation for once, and he ruined it. Sure, it was  
with a snake who wasn't actually talking back, but it was better than any conversation he'd had with Dudley.

In front of his very eyes, the glass disappeared. Dudley, who had been pushing against the glass, fell through into the small pond at the bottom of the enclosure. He started  
screaming for daddy.

The snake slithered over a branch that hung over Dudley, terrifying the boy. He started whimpering like a little child. The boa constrictor slid out of the habitat and onto the  
floor.

As it moved past Harry, it looked at him. It surprised him even more by saying:

" _Brazil, here I come. Thanksssss amigo._ "

"Anytime..." Harry managed. The snake made its way through the reptile house. Screams arose. He watched it slither out of sight in amazement. Nobody would believe him.

"I do," came a voice from behind him. He turned around to see the hooded stalker from earlier.

"Sorry?" Harry asked.

"I believe you," the shaded character replied, "I believe that you had a conversation with a snake."

"Who the heck are you?" Harry said incredulously.

"We'll see each other soon enough," he said as he leaned forward and pulled his hood back a bit revealing his eyes. They were a stunning emerald green, but they swirled a little, making Harry think of them like the sea. Harry could've sworn he'd seen those eyes somewhere else.

He put his hood back in place,

"Hasta luego Harry Potter," he said as he disappeared into the crowd. How on earth did he know his name? However, a girlish scream drew Harry's attention back to Dudley.

He had picked himself up out of the pond, and had tried to walk out of the enclosure, only to find the glass back in place. His eyes widened as he punched the glass in different places. He started to panic. He began to cry and was frantically throwing his fists at the glass.

His parents heard his screams for help and rushed over to help him. Harry couldn't help but laugh at the situation.

Unfortunately, Uncle Vernon noticed and growled at him.

Harry stopped laughing.

* * *

Harry was roughly grabbed by his uncle and thrown into the cupboard under the stairs once again. His uncle locked him in from the outside and glared at him.

"You won't be seeing daylight for a week, son!" He spat nastily.

"But I didn't do anything!" Harry protested, "It was like magic!"

Harry's uncle growled deeply.

"There's no such thing as magic!" he snarled, as he closed a small hatch in the door. Harry could hear his vile excuse of an uncle plodding away.

"I still didn't get my god damn Freddo!" He shouted to no one, as he collapsed onto the floor and drifted into sleep.

Meanwhile, a hooded figure was listening from outside the Dursley's house. He smirked under his hood.

"If fatso didn't get you your god damn Freddo, I guess I'll have to." 

* * *

**9 Days Later**

* * *

There was a knock at the door. Harry went to go get it. He opened the front door and there were two people on the welcome mat: a very thin woman and a teenage boy.

"Uncle Vernon!" Harry called into the dining room. Sure enough, his fat uncle waddled to the door.

"Back to the cupboard, boy," he hissed under his breath. Harry heard and scampered back to the room.

Harry couldn't hear much of the conversation, but he heard the odd word every now and then, such as "adoption" "nephew" and "you have to".

'So I'm getting a roommate,' Harry thought, 'poor chap'

Sure enough, he saw the lady walking with his aunt and uncle past his cupboard and to the door. Papers were (reluctantly) exchanged and soon the woman was gone.

Harry began to play with some little battle figures. They are the only play things Harry owned. They weren't much; just pieces of plastic two centimetres tall. But they were his.

The door of the cupboard under the stairs opened and the boy he'd seen at the door earlier was thrown in.

"Make yourself comfortable," came the ugly voice of Harry's uncle before the door was slammed shut.

The new occupant of the room rushed to the grate and yelled some extremely colourful words at Uncle Vernon. Harry tried to start a conversation.

"Hello," he said simply.

The new boy turned to face Harry. He looked into his eyes. They reminded Harry of the sea. Wait a minute...

"You!" Harry exclaimed. The boy laughed at his reaction.

"Hola mi amigo," he chuckled, "Long time no see."

"We saw each other an hour ago!" Harry replied, quite surprised at his presence.

"So we did," he said, smiling, "So we did."

"I am sure you already know my name, but still..."

"Oh yes, formalities!" the boy said, rubbing his hands together,"So long since I had a formal introduction!"

Harry raised an eyebrow at him. The boy tilted his head at him.

"Harry James Potter," he said, sticking out his hand. The boy opposite him was grinning like a cheshire cat.

"So I've found you," he murmured to himself, "After all these years I've found you..."

The boy grabbed Harry's hand firmly. He looked Harry directly in the eye and smiled. A revelation came to Harry; he'd finally worked out where he'd seen those eyes before.

They were like his own.

The boy finally spoke.

"My name," he said, smiling widely,

"is Perseus Lilith Potter. It's a pleasure to meet you, brother." 

* * *

**So Harry's brother survived. But his backstory is tragic. It may just be me but I feel like the last chapter was better than this because I'm better at writing dark, angsty stuff.**

 **Anyway, on the favs and follows count, I didn't expect 4/4. It doesn't seem like much, but when I got an email saying**

 **rubyred2003 has favourited your story ( you made my day. Have a cookie (::) )**

 **I was ecstatic. You know. Thanks for the follows, favourites and don't forget to give a review (no flames plz)**

 **Signing off**

 **NAYT**


	3. The Letters From No One

(NAYT does not own Hazza or Percy. They belong to J.K. Rowling and Uncle Rick. NAYT doesn't own Coke, Premier Inn either)

* * *

Harry was sure he was being pranked. And he didn't like it at all.

Creepy shit happens at the zoo, and then his stalker moves in. And said stalker claims to be his long lost brother.

"Absolutely hilarious," He told his roommate, "and I'm a wizard," he added sarcastically. (XD)

Perseus feigned shock, "I'm insulted, brother. Do you take me as a liar?"

"Yes," he said simply. Perseus leaned forward, giving Harry even less room in the already cramped cupboard, making him feel extremely claustrophobic.

"Do you want proof?" he asked creepily, which reminded Harry that he was a stalker. He sat up straight.

"You've always felt something has been missing, or more specifically, someone. You've always felt different but couldn't quite figure out why," he listed, "You know that people lie to you quite a lot, in particular, Uncle Vernon dearest."

"Stop!" Harry yelled, rubbing his temples, "Just stop!"

"Our names, Harry," Perseus continued, "We're named after our parents; James and Lily Potter."

"Cut it out!" Harry growled. He was pushing him over the line.

"That scar on your forehead," Perseus shouted back, "It's no ordinary scar is it?"

Harry felt a tug in his stomach, closed his eyes and let out a yell. He heard a grunt, quickly followed by a crash. When he opened his eyes, he saw a charred Perseus lying against the wall.

'Oh god, I've killed him' Harry thought dreadfully. He didn't expect a reply.

Especially one he only heard in his head.

'I'm not an easy one to kill, brother," he heard.

'Great, I'm also insane,'

'No you're not' the voice responded. If Harry didn't know better, the voice sounded like…

'Perseus?'

'Damn right.'

'How the hell?' he thought incredulously.

'One second…'

Harry heard a sharp inhale from the other side of the cupboard.

"Holy shit that hurt Harry!" Perseus exclaimed.

"Explain. Please," Harry said in reply. Before Perseus could, the boys were greeted with the presence of Mr. Dursley.

"What the hell is going on in here?" he snarled.

"I need a shower," came his reply.

* * *

One shower later

* * *

"That was nice," a now not-so-charred Perseus said.

"Now I want my goddamn explanation!" Harry said fuming as his so-called brother pulled on a large shirt.

"OK," Perseus replied calmly, "Your scar." Harry reached up and subconsciously rubbed the lightning shaped scar that was embedded in his forward.

"One of a kind…" he murmured. Perseus laughed heartily.

"Wrong," he said, "Two of a kind actually." Following this statement, he lifted his hair from his face…

Revealing a scar in the shape of a trident.

"When I first found out about your existence," he explained, "I figured you would have a scar like me. I didn't know that it would be in the shape of-"

"Lightning," Harry finished. He was finally starting to believe that he might be related to Perseus.

"Like the lightning you hit me with twenty minutes ago," Perseus nodded.

"Wait. What?"

"Think about it Harry. You felt a tug in your stomach, then I'm flung into the wall and I'm as charred as a badly cooked sausage," Perseus said. He then sniffed the air, "and can you smell the faint whiff of ozone?"

Harry looked confused, but smelt the air and could smell the weak scent of a leaving storm. "How did you know about the stomach thing?" he questioned.

Perseus smirked, "Because I've felt it myself,"

"You can summon lightning too!?" Harry all but yelled.

"No," Perseus replied, "But watch this. UNCLE VERNON!"

Their most benevolent uncle opened the door.

"What do you want, you little brat?" he growled deeply. Perseus just stared at the man with double chins.

"I am thirsty," he just said. The door slammed in his face.

"Nothing like the taste of a door to quench one's thirst," he laughed, "Don't worry, he'll be back!"

"What the heck makes you think that he'll come back?" Harry asked.

"Just watch…"

The door was flung open and a glass of water was harshly shoved in. Then, as quickly as it opened, the door was shut once more. Harry stared blankly at Perseus as he began to concentrate.

Harry never expected what happened next.

Before his unbelieving eyes, the water slowly began to float out of the cup. It levitated into the air and began to morph into the shape of a duck. it then flopped back into the glass.

"Ta dah!" Perseus chimed, shaking his hands. Harry was gobsmacked.

"But wait! There's more."

Harry watched on in amazement as Perseus scrunched up his face in concentration. Then, slowly at first, he started to become transparent. This continued until all that remained was a fine cloud of mist.

The mist solidified and took the familiar form of Perseus, who was grinning madly.

"Yeah, unfortunately, I don't know why I have these powers or why you have yours, but we do. So yeah," Perseus said, answering Harry's unspoken question. He leant forward and shut Harry's mouth.

"Ok…"

"And the mist thing is hard."

"Yep..."

Harry was extremely busy trying to process all that he had seen. He was utterly confused, but there was a lot of evidence that this guy was his brother.

"So, you're my brother?" he asked.

"No, I'm not. I'm a worldwide wanted criminal who is ridiculously overpowered and cut a trident into his forehead because it's funny," came the reply, dripping with sarcasm. Perseus cocked his head. Harry laughed uncontrollably. He'd never laughed this hard in ten years.

He was most definitely his strangest relative.

But he was probably going to be the best.

* * *

A week or so later...

* * *

Harry had finally been allowed out of the cupboard, but he had been forced to do more jobs.

His eccentric brother (who insisted on him calling him Percy, as it made him feel old) helped him here and there with the odd job.

He helped put the bins out on Tuesdays, as he didn't mind the smell. Harry remembered him saying, "They smell better than Dudley."

He did the dishes too, but he always spat on the ones that Dudley used at mealtimes. Harry almost choked on his pasta when Dudley complained that there was too much vile tasting sauce at the bottom.

Today, however, he had to get the mail from the front door. As he left the kitchen he could see the three letters on the floor. He picked them up and looked at them.

The first one was a bill. It was very white and in pristine condition. The second was a postcard from his disgusting uncle's equally disgusting sister, Marge.

The third was completely different from the others.

It was for Harry.

His eyes widened as he looked at his name on the envelope. He blinked hard and rubbed his glasses on his shirt. It was still for him. The address read:

 _ **Mr. H. Potter**_

 _ **The Cupboard Under the Stairs**_

 _ **4 Privet Drive**_

 _ **Little Whinging, Surrey**_

Harry couldn't believe it. He'd actually got a letter. He turned it over and saw a wax seal. It had a coat of arms imprinted into the wax, which consisted of four animals: a lion, a snake, a badger and an eagle.

He took the letter into the dining room with the bill and postcard, which he passed to Uncle Vernon.

He ripped open the letter and sat down opposite Dudley, who had been parading around in his brand new Smeltings uniform.

Smeltings was a posh school where Uncle Vernon went as a child. The students who go there had to wear awfully embarrassing outfits, but Dudley didn't mind.

The school also supplied canes, which were used to whack other students if they were bad. Harry supposed that compensated for having to dress like a woman.

Dudley had been hitting everything since he'd received it; he even hit his uncle when he took too long getting a coke from the fridge.

Harry sat down and was about to open the letter. Perseus, who was sitting next to him with his feet on the table, leant over and glanced at the letter. He seemed to recognise it. He looked Harry in the eye and told him telepathically not to tell Uncle Vernon.

Suddenly, Harry couldn't feel the letter in his hands anymore. Dudley had snatched it out of his hands and was running towards his parents, who had been talking about the other post.

"Dad! dad!" he yelled, waving the letter in the air, "Harry's got a letter!"

Vernon took it from his son and laughed cruelly, "You? Who would want to write to you?"

He turned the letter over and turned a ghostly pale. He gagged horribly. His wife took it from his hands and had an equally shocking reaction.

"Dad, can I read it? Can I read it?" Dudley asked loudly. Harry felt angry. Why should he be allowed to read it when it was addressed to Harry?

"No!" he yelled, "It's mine! Give it back!" Uncle Vernon gagged some more.

"Get out," he finally gasped, "All three of you!"

"But it's my letter!" he cried, "It's addressed to me!"

"That's true," Percy said, "They have it correct to the metre."

"Out!" yelled Uncle Vernon, with a now tomato-red face.

"But-" Harry started.

"But-" Dudley said too.

"Poof!" Percy said grinning, before he evaporated away and reformed in the hall. Vernon hated that.

"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon. Harry and Dudley hustled out of the kitchen, where Percy was inspecting his nails. The door slammed shut behind them.

"You two can fight over the keyhole," Percy said whilst standing up, "I'm going recon."

He disappeared.

Harry had never been one for physical violence, and so lost the keyhole to Dudley. He was thankful his cousin had dropped his cane in the kitchen.

Even so, he was lying on the floor, looking through the crack underneath the door, with a perfect view of the adults' feet. His glasses were dangling off his left ear, close to falling onto the floor.

"No we won't, Petunia," he heard his uncle say, as his polished, black shoes paced around the room.

"But-"

"No! We swore we'd put a stop to it when he first arrived," he growled.

Harry involuntarily winced; when he was one, his parents had died in a car crash, but ever since the arrival of Percy, he began to doubt that. But it still hurt.

"What about that Percy boy?" His aunt asked, "He didn't get a letter."

"Well he might not have the-" he lowered his voice, so that Harry could no longer listen. What did he have that was worrying them so much?

Percy appeared behind him, with a slightly miffed expression. He hadn't heard the rest either.

"Do you know what Hogwarts is, Percy? That's where I think it came from."

"For your sake," Percy said, not making eye-contact, "I don't have the foggiest."

Just then, the door opened, crushing Dudley against the wall. He let out a little yelp. His parents walked through.

"Can I have my letter back, please?" Harry said, his hand outstretched, ready to take the mail.

Uncle Vernon looked hesitant, and spared a glance at Percy, who was leaning against the wall.

"No," he said finally, "We've put in the fire. It was addressed to the wrong person, see?"

Harry's face morphed into one of disgust. Percy tutted and muttered "What a bastard," loud enough for only Harry to hear

He didn't laugh though.

He started to walk towards his cupboard, fuming at his uncle. Aunt Petunia intercepted him.

"Let me through," he growled, and his aunt flinched noticeably.

"Listen here, boy," Vernon said, "We've decided that you two are too big for that cupboard..."

e"So, we're putting you up in Dudley's old bedroom," Petunia finished.

"Woo hooo!" Percy celebrated, running upstairs, "Upgrade!"

"No!" Dudley whined simultaneously, "That's my room! Where would I put all my toys?" he burst into tears.

"Oh, for fuck's sake Dudley, man up!" Percy called from upstairs. Harry laughed inwardly.

"Move your things, and get upstairs."

For once, Harry willingly did as he was told.

* * *

The next day another letter came for Harry. Unfortunately, Dudley got it first.

"DAD! DAD!" he yelled from the door, "Harry's got another letter!"

Harry's eyes widened in sync with his uncle's. They both rushed to the door. Uncle Vernon tried to pull the letter out of Dudley's fat hands, but it was hard with Harry clinging onto his short neck.

Percy was yelling "Fight! Fight! Fight!" and really was not helping at all.

Finally, after many bruises (courtesy of Dudley's cane), Uncle Vernon escaped from the skirmish with the letter. Harry caught a glimpse of the address:

 _ **Mr. H. Potter**_

 _ **The Smallest Bedroom**_

So these letters knew exactly where he was in that rotten place he called home.

His uncle spotted this too, gagged a bit, then tore it up.

He told his wife about it as well.

"They know he's changed rooms!" he exclaimed, "They know Petunia!"

"I don't know what to do, Vernon," she replied, with a worried tone, "They might just keep on coming!"

And so they did.

The next day, Harry received three letters. All of which, he never got to read. He didn't quite understand why his uncle and aunt didn't want him to see the contents of the letters.

So he devised a plan. Percy helped, of course, but decided his beauty sleep was more important.

The morning after that, at about five o'clock, when Harry was certain that everyone was asleep, he crept out of bed. He tiptoed around Percy, who resided on the floor, and opened the door just so as to slip through silently.

He stealthily traversed down the stairs, missing the last one - it creaked a lot - and landed quietly on the carpet.

He planned to get outside and reach the post before his rotten uncle, so he could receive it personally, and read it himself.

He was by the door when it went downhill.

He stepped on something soft and squishy by the door. He jumped backwards and there was a yell of surprise.

The lights were flicked on and Uncle Vernon appeared on the floor, his face in the ever so common shade of red.

He didn't get his letters that day. There were actually five that ended up burning in the fire that evening. Harry walked into the lounge and saw his uncle chucking the paper into the fire. When he saw his nephew, he gave horrid grin.

They kept coming for days to come, and they all fuelled the evening fire. Eventually, Uncle Vernon decided to block up the mail box, but this act of DIY was pointless, as the letters slipped under the door.

Harry noticed that there was an abundance of owls hanging about 4 Privet Drive. Percy said that it wasn't natural causes, and Harry believed him. He believed the owls and his mail were related but he couldn't place a finger on how.

Uncle Vernon was even taking days off from work at the drill company to make sure Harry never read a word of 'those blasted letters.'

His only relief came on Sunday.

Sunday was Uncle Vernon's new favourite day. It used to be Monday (no one knew why. Percy thought that all Mondays, no matter how good your day goes, are the shittiest day), but his perspective had changed, and he adored Sundays.

"And do you know why?" he asked, whilst reclining back in his chair, with a biscuit in his hand. Dudley shook his head.

"Because there's no post on Sundays," said a miserable Harry quietly passing Percy a biscuit. His brother was mirroring his mood.

"Quite right!" Uncle Vernon exclaimed, "No post on Sundays!"

Harry felt compelled to go to the window. He didn't know why. He put down the biscuit tin and walked over.

 _"Not a single letter!"_

Percy walked up behind him, "What are you feeling brother?"

An owl swooped past the window and was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

 _"Not one!"_

"Did you see that, Percy?" Harry said questioningly. Percy grinned.

"The chimney..."

 _"Not a single bloody letter tod-"_

A letter flew out from the fireplace and sped into Vernon's fat face. He sputtered in surprise and dropped his chocolate biscuit in surprise.

A rumbling sound arose. It became so loud that Dudley put his hands over his ears to shut out the noise. The floor trembled slightly.

Suddenly, forty or fifty letters, much like the others that had been sent to Harry, were flying out of the chimney and into the living room. Dudley screamed and jumped into his mother's arms.

Uncle Vernon was waving his arms around trying to stop the letters from hurting him.

Naturally, Percy ran around the room, laughing maniacally.

Harry tried to grab one of the letters, reaching up towards the ceiling. As he caught one, he heard his uncle Vernon shout, "STOP BOY!"

Harry vaulted over the sofa and dashed into the hallway.

"GIVE ME BACK THAT LETTER!" Vernon roared in anger. Harry ran past his cupboard, but was tackled by his uncle Vernon by the bottom of the stairs, who wrestled him for the letter.

"That's it!" Uncle Vernon yelled angrily, "We're going away! Far away! Where they will never find us!"

"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he," Dudley whimpered. Percy clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Dudley," he said, "That might be the smartest thing you've ever said."

* * *

Uncle Vernon forced them all to pack their bags and get in the car. They drove away from Privet Drive and past their nutty, cat loving neighbour Mrs Figg, who waved goodbye out of the window.

They went all the way to the M25, and cut back on themselves a few times. All the time, Dudley was moaning, because it was probably the longest he'd ever gone without food.

They stopped at Premier Inn near Crawley. It was ten o'clock at night, and Dudley was snoring away on Percy's shoulder, who in turn was sleeping on Harry's shoulder, who was wide awake and contemplating the existence of God because there was nothing better to do.

Harry woke Percy up as Uncle Vernon carried Dudley inside.

"Yo, Perce," he nudged his brother, "Wake up."

They left the car and walked into the hotel. Uncle Vernon was taking a key and walking down corridor, with Aunt Petunia following like an obedient dog. Harry dragged Percy after them.

They reached room 147 and went inside. Dudley was placed gingerly on the single bed and Uncle Vernon and his wife flopped down on the double.

Harry grabbed two spare pillows and threw them on the floor. Percy snuggled up to his and subsequently rolled under the double bed.

Harry just shrugged, flicked the light switch, and went to sleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.

(LineBreak)

They left in record time.

After a hearty breakfast, they decided to head back to the room to pack, but as they went past reception, there was a pile of brown letters. Harry took one from the top.

 _ **Mr. H. Potter**_

 _ **Room 147**_

 _ **Premier Inn**_

 _ **Crawley**_

Unfortunately, Vernon saw the letter too and snatched it from Harry's hand. He saw the address, gagged once again, and shepherded everyone to the room. Five minutes later, they were back on the road.

After many days of travelling like this, they ended up in a small shack on an isolated rock in the middle of a rough, unforgiving sea.

Percy (using his hydrokinesis) kept himself and Harry dry, but happily let the Dursleys get soaked to the bone.

The building creaked and was very cold. Harry was very uncomfortable staying there.

Once more, Harry was forced to stay on the ground whilst Dudley got the sofa. Percy had made himself at home under the sofa.

It was August 18th when Harry's boring life got turned on its head.

It was nearing midnight on the 17th on the rock. Harry was the only one awake.

He drew a cake on the floor with eleven candles on the top. He had written Happy Birthday Harry' on it as well.

It was really the shittiest birthday cake that Harry had ever laid eyes on.

He turned his head to Dudley's arm that was flopping over the side of the couch. His Adidas watch glittered faintly in the dark shack. It beeped to signify a new day.

"Make a wish, Harry," he said quietly, as he blew the cake, dust erasing his cake from the ground, till only faint marks remained.

Suddenly, there was a large bang at the door. Dudley woke up and screamed. Harry could hear his aunt and uncle getting out of bed upstairs.

There was another boom.

Uncle Vernon came down the stairs holding a double barrelled shotgun in his chubby hands. He was shaking like jelly.

Another bang.

Harry pressed himself behind a wall. He hadn't wished for this.

"I'm warning you," Uncle Vernon yelled, but his voice was quivering, "I'm armed!"

 **SMASH!**

The door fell off its hinges and revealed a silhouette of a giant taller than the door. It stepped into the threshold.

Harry sure as hell did not wish for this.

The giant picked up the door and returned it to its place.

"Sorry 'bout that" the 8 foot stranger said as he (Harry presumed him to be a male, because of all of the hair), "Couldn't make us a cuppa tea, could yeh?"

He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen in terror.

"Budge up yeh lump!" he bellowed. Dudley screamed and propelled himself off the couch and hid behind the armrest.

"I demand you leave now sir," Uncle Vernon said, cocking and aiming his shotgun, his voice shaky "You are breaking and entering."

The giant walked up to Vernon, who looked petrified. The giant grabbed the gun and twisted it into a knot.

"Man up Dursley yeh great prune!" he boomed, as he tossed the gun into a dark corner. He walked over to and glanced down at the small fireplace, cold and empty. When he leant away, there was a blazing fire. It's flickering light brightened up the small room. It made the house seemed warmer.

"An here's 'arry" he said, possibly grinning under the mass of hair that must've been a beard. He sat down on the sofa. It sagged an awful lot. If anyone was underneath, it would have been very pai-

 _"FUCKING HELL!"_

"Oh shit, Percy," Harry said, eyes widening.

"Who's Percy?" the giant said, abruptly standing up.

"Me," Percy said, rolling out from under the couch, wheezing.

"Who the fuck are you?"

There was a moment of silence.

"Hagrid?"

"Percy?"

"Ahh, Hagrid, my man!" Percy yelled, disappearing into the coat as he gave the giant a huge hug.

"It's bin too long," Hagrid replied, as Percy came out of the coat and pulled some gum out of his hair.

"So, what brings yeh into Harry's company, eh?" Hagrid asked as he sat down again.

"I'm his brother," Percy said, throwing his arm around Harry, who was feeling the most uncomfortable.

The black eyes of the giant widened.

"No, yeh not," Hagrid boomed angrily, "Only Harry survived tha' night."

"Hagrid,"

"Yeh takin the mick, pretending to be his brother."

"Hagrid,"

"I thought yeh was a decent person."

"HAGRID!"

Hagrid was pulled out of his anger. Percy lifted up his fringe to show the giant his scar. Hagrid was surprised. He touched the scar and traced over it.

"So, it's true?"

"Uh, yeah," Harry said, "Sorry, but who are you?"

Hagrid chuckled, "Should 'ave said before. Name's Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper o' Keys at 'ogwarts. But yeh can call me Hagrid; everyone does!"

Harry blinked. What was this man saying?

"Sorry, but what are you talking about?" Harry asked, confused to the bone.

Hagrid's demeanor immediately sobered, "Yeh don't know. Yeh don't know."

"Sorry..." Harry muttered quietly.

"No no, it's not yeh that should be apologisin, it's them!" Hagrid yelled angrily, pointing at the Dursleys. They shrank into the wall.

"Yeh must know summin 'bout our world. Where'd you think yeh mum an' dad learnt it all."

"Learnt what?"

"DURSLEY!"

The family disappeared, shaken, into the shadows. Hagrid took a few breaths before reaching into his horrible coat.

"I 'eard it was yeh special day, Harry," he said pulling a small box out of his coat. It looked a little squashed.

"Baked it meself, words an' all," Hagrid said, sounding pleased with himself.

Harry opened the box. Inside was a cake, covered with blue icing. In green letters, there read Happy Birthdae Harry.

"I mighta sat on it on the way, but it should still taste alright."

Harry tried to say thank you, but he couldn't.

"Excuse me, Hagrid," Percy interjected, his arms crossed, "It's really nice and stuff that you did this for the birthday boy, but where's my name?"

"It's yeh birthday too?" Hagrid cried, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know!"

"S'alright Hagrid, you didn't really even know I was alive!"

"Apologies, but why are you here?" Harry interrupted.

"Ah yea, I came to give yeh yer letter." Hagrid replied.

"NO! You will do nothing of the sort!" Vernon sputtered.

"Oh righ'" Hagrid boomed, "And what is a grea' muggle like yehself gonna do abou' it?"

"Muggle?" Percy asked, confused for the first time.

"Non-magical folk."

"What do you mean?"

"Harry," the giant said,

 _"Yer a wizard!"_

* * *

 **Yeah, this chapter took way too long. I had a writer's block along with other problems like school, homework and other educational crap.**

 **I will be giving out shoutouts to certain people who follow and favourite the story.**

 **This week's Shoutouts:**

 _-Emily2253_

 _-SofiaSapphire_

 _-vogelflip123_

 _-JuiceBox16_

* * *

 **As always: review, favourite and follow (If you want to)**

* * *

 **NAYT signing off**


	4. Diagon Alley

**NAYT doesn't own shit!**

* * *

Harry woke up early the next morning. He refused to get up though. He had been having the most spectacular dream where a nutty geezer named Haggard...no, Hagrid came to him and said that he was a wizard. How impossible was that!

He heard a tap.

'That must be Aunt Petunia, waking me up to make breakfast for Dudley,' Harry thought sadly.

 _Tap tap!_

"Alright!" Harry said as he rolled over and opened his eyes.

A small bird (Harry wasn't surprised that it was an owl) was tapping the window of the shack on the rock. Harry put on his glasses and opened the window and the owl flew in.

A small brown paper was attached to it's leg. Harry bent over and took the package from the small creature and rolled it open.

It was a newspaper, a very old fashioned one to say the least, but a newspaper all the same. It had August 18th in the top corner. Harry looked down at the main article and gasped.

Percy bolted upright. He looked around confused for a second. When his eyes fell on Harry, he remembered why he woke up and rushed over.

"What's this?" he asked after a hearty yawn.

"It's a newspaper-"

"Well, is it now,"

Harry glared at his brother, "Look at the pictures, Harry," Percy said, pointing at the paper.

Harry's eyes nearly popped out of his head! How had he not seen it before; the pictures moved! Very much like the cartoons that Dudley watched (Harry had never been allowed to watch them, but if he sat in the right place in the hall…). A rather chubby man was smiling at the camera. He stayed like this, with the occasional sway, for a few seconds and his mouth was moving like he was talking. He turned and walked out of camera shot.

Harry felt a small, sharp bite on his leg. The delivery owl was there, waiting impatiently, as if expecting something.

"Give it some money," came a sleep infused voice.

"Pardon?"

"It wants some money fer deliverin' the paper," said Hagrid, who was slightly more awake, as he shifted around on the sofa, "Yeh'll find some in meh pocket."

Percy walked over to the giant's coat which lay on the floor. He took some time finding some current in the coat. It seemed the ugly thing was only made up of pockets, and only Hagrid could possibly know what was in there. He saw Percy pull out a slug of some sort. His brother dropped it in surprise and quickly wiped his hand on Dudley's coat which was hung up on the wall.

Eventually, he found some coins. Percy turned their eight foot friend.

"Hagrid?" he asked, "What exactly should I give him?"

"Five knuts," Hagrid yawned, shaking the shack. Percy raised his eyebrow in question. Harry stood in fascination: what on earth was a knut?

Hagrid must have sensed their confusion. Either that or they spent too long in silence, "The lil' brown 'uns."

"Oh."

As soon as the bird had received its pay it fluttered its wings and took of out of the window into the clear morning sky after biting Harry's leg for good measure. The storm from the previous night had passed over, leaving a wonderful view of the ocean.

"Right!" Hagrid boomed, clapping his hands, "Anyone fer a sausage?"

* * *

 **~Flashback~**

* * *

 _ **Dear Mr. Potter,**_

 _ **We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.**_

 _ **Yours sincerely, Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress.**_

 _ **Albus Dumbledore (Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confederation of Wizards), Headmaster.**_

Harry looked up from his letter that Hagrid had given him. He couldn't believe it! Him, a wizard! No wonder Uncle Vernon, the normalest normal person in the history of normality, wouldn't let him read this. He turned to Percy, who had been reading it over his shoulder. His brother flashed him a grin.

"NO!" Uncle Vernon bellowed, red in the face (as usual), "I will not pay for a crackpot old fool to teach him magic tricks!"

Harry's uncle had apparently crossed the line. Hagrid raised his pink umbrella and pointed it menacingly at Vernon's pudgy face. Somehow, it was extremely intimidating.

"Never. Insult. Albus. Dumbledore. In front. Of me," thrusting the umbrella threateningly towards the fat man with every word.

Percy was bouncing with anticipation of what Hagrid would do: turn him into a rat, make his arms floppy, blast him with magic energy. Hagrid lifted his umbrella above his head, and swung it at Vernon.

At the last second, he turned his aim towards Dudley, who had sneaked away and was eating Harry's birthday cake. Sparks shot out of the end of the pink umbrella. The next thing that was seen was Dudley jumping around holding his bottom and howling like a dog.

Protruding from his fatty behind was a pig's tail.

Percy was doubling up from laughing so hard and Harry wasn't trying to hold back his laughter either. Mr and Mrs Dursley quickly shepherded their son upstairs, throwing fearful glances backwards at the giant. As they retreated, Percy yelled after them,

"Don't chat shit about wizards now, ya little bitch!" he continued to laugh loudly, as if he'd taken some really potent drugs _**(Don't do drugs, kids! Seriously though, don't)**_. He sauntered over to his giant friend and raised his hand for a brofist.

"Permanent respect, man!" he laughed, as Hagrid uncertainly fistbumped the eleven year old.

"Just don' go roun' tellin' everyone, ok?" Hagrid said, letting out a small chuckle. The brothers nodded their agreement.

"Why not?" Percy inquired, intrigued.

"I was expelled…"

Harry quickly changed the subject, "Why did you give him a pigs' tail?"

Hagrid blushed, embarrassed, although it was impossible to tell through his bushy beard, "Well, I meant teh turn 'im completely into a pig, but I guess there wasn't much teh do,"

Percy laughed so hard, he fell asleep and crashed onto the floor. Harry let him be and chuckled softly.

"Oh, an' before I forget…" Hagrid said, as he started digging inside his multitude of pockets. He pulled a small, rather ruffled up tawny owl and a roll of parchment.

He began to scrawl a very untidy message onto the paper, and it took Harry a while to decipher it:

 **/\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\**

 **\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/**

 _ **Dear Professor Dumbledore,**_

 _ **Given Harry his letter**_

 _ **Going to get his stuff tomorrow**_

 _ **Weather's terrible. Hope you're well**_

 _ **Hagrid**_

 _ **P.S. Ran into Perseus Potter, alive and well, he's going with Harry to Hogwarts**_

 **/\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\**

 **\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/**

Hagrid rolled up the letter and tucked it into the small bird's beak. He picked the owl up and tossed him out of the window into the storm. He assured Harry that no harm would come to the bird.

"Time teh get some sleep, Harry," Hagrid said, sitting on the sofa, "Big day tomorrow."

Hagrid lent Harry his big coat which he had discarded earlier. It was quite soft on the outside so he pulled it over his body and used it as a duvet.

As Hagrid made himself comfortable on the couch, Harry's eyes began to close, knowing that his life had been changed forever.

* * *

Hagrid led the brothers out of the shack on the rock nine o'clock after a brilliant breakfast of sausage baps. After a small debate, they left a small note for the Dursley's explaining why they were gone and when they'd be back. The group clambered into the boat that was tied to a small post. Hagrid took up most of the space, so Percy was uncomfortably perched on Harry's lap in an awkward position.

Hagrid looked around guiltily, then tapped the boat twice with his umbrella. They promptly sped off towards the mainland.

"Could yeh keep that quiet as well too?" Hagrid asked, looking sheepish.

Percy put on a cheesy grin, "Keep what quiet Hagrid?" Hagrid heaved a hearty laugh as they zipped over the waves.

"Hold on a minute," Harry said, suddenly as a thought came to mind, "How did you get to us last night. There weren't any other boats."

"Flyin' motorbike," Hagrid said casually, as if he had taken a bus, "I sent it back to me home."

Harry's jaw dropped and he turned to his brother who had kept an amused smile throughout the affair, "And you're not surprised by this at all?"

"My dear Harry, we're wizards," Percy explained, "Magic exists; anything is possible!" Harry grinned at his brother and turned his attention to the rising hills on the horizon.

* * *

 **Later...**

* * *

After getting off the boat, Hagrid led the trio down to London. They went to a nearby town and took a train to King's Cross, where they walked into the capital city of England. Many pedestrians gave the giant judgemental looks, which Hagrid ignored, but they continued with their daily routine.

As they walked through the crowded streets, Percy was looking through the required equipment needed for Hogwarts.

"Hagrid?" he asked, confused, "Where the bloody hell are we gonna find this shit? You're not exactly going to get these things from WHSmiths."

Harry glanced over his brother's shoulder and read the list:

 **/\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\**

 **\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/**

 **HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY UNIFORM**

 **First year students will require:**

 **Three sets of plain work robes (black)**

 **One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear**

 **One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)**

 **One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)**

 _ **Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags**_

 **COURSE BOOKS**

 **All first years should have a copy of each of the following:**

 **The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk**

 **A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot**

 **Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling**

 **A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emetic Switch**

 **One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore**

 **Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger**

 **Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Highwayt Scamander**

 **The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble**

 **OTHER EQUIPMENT**

 **wand cauldron (pewter, standard size 2) set**

 **glass or crystal phials**

 **telescope set**

 **brass scales**

 **Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad**

 **PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS**

 **/\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\**

 **\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/**

"Can we find all of this in London?" Harry asked, admiring the list.

"If yeh know where ter look," Hagrid said simply.

"All of this black," Percy said, "Isn't it a bit too Nico?"

Harry turned to him, unsure of his words. It seemed that the confusion was mutual as Percy's face was contorted into one of deep thought.

"I meant gothic," he corrected, "I have no idea why I said Nico…"

Harry left his brother to his thoughts and immersed himself in his own. He had never met a Nico before in his life, so why did the name, along with the word 'goth', ring a very distant bell in his head?

* * *

Percy watched the people go by, off to work, late for school et cetera. Percy secretly envied these people, for they had one thing he didn't.

 _A normal life._

Orphaned at the young age of one, he was left to fend for himself. Homeless and without food, he starved for weeks until he found a reliable source of food.

Yep, at the age of one, Perseus Potter stole from a KFC.

He looked around at the passing shops, containing things he could only hope to get: the latest t-shirt, some cologne, maybe even some Jordans, event though he didn't really like the style.

"'Ere we are," Hagrid exclaimed as he stopped suddenly, bringing Perseus out of his thoughts as he smashed into the giant. Hagrid was beaming under his facial hair, as if he was proud of their destination, "The Leaky Cauldron. 'Tis a very famous place."

Percy glanced skeptically at his giant friend. If he hadn't have mentioned it, he wouldn't have noticed the grubby-looking pub, and he was looking in that general direction.

Percy looked at the pedestrians as they walked past. Their eyes flicked from a bookshop on one side of the pub to a record shop on the other.

It was almost as if it didn't exist for them.

He locked eyes with his brother saw that he was thinking the same. There was an unspoken message between the siblings, then they followed Hagrid into the Leaky Cauldron.

* * *

 **Inside the Pub...**

* * *

It took Harry a few seconds for his eyes to adjust from the brightness of midday London to the darkness of the Leaky Cauldron.

It was fairly crowded: there was a man with a turban at the bar; two women at a table drinking whisky and smoking pipes.

The bartender immediately noticed Hagrid ('Not that it was hard not to,' Harry thought) and called over to him.

"Afternoon Hagrid," he called cheerfully, "The usual?"

"No thanks Tom," Hagrid replied, shaking his head, releasing some dandruff onto the boys, "I'm on official Hogwarts business." He gestured towards the brothers.

As soon as Tom's eyes landed on Harry, he froze.

"By my life," he gasped, "Harry Potter."

The pub went deadly silent. Everyone was looking at Harry. It was intimidating, all of those eyes looking at him. He shrunk back a bit.

Tom rushed out from behind the bar and grasped Harry's left hand. He shook it so hard, Harry gely like he was going to tear it off.

"It's such an honour!" he exclaimed, misty-eyed, "Welcome back Mr Potter!"

There was a collective scraping of chairs as everyone rushed forward to meet the boy.

A rather giddy old lady trotted up to meet him first. "Doris Crockford, Mr Potter. I'm so happy to see you at last."

"Oxford Adams," said a middle-aged man with thinning blond hair who was holding a book that said ' _The_

 _Boy Who Lived'_ , "As a fellow half-blood, can you sign this for me?"

"Dedalus Diggle," said a man with a top hat and brown hair. He had a face that suggested youth and mischief.

"I know you!" Harry exclaimed, "You bowed to me in an Argos!"

Mr Diggle looked so ecstatic that he might've fainted at any moment. "He remembers!" he laughed merrily.

Whilst being bombarded by the population of the pub, Harry couldn't help Percy, who usually loved a good bit of attention, was hanging back and staying out of the spotlight. Normally, he would be next to his brother, shaking hands with everybody and telling them all of the great tales of Perseus Potter. Harry made a mental note to ask him later.

* * *

After meeting the barmy character of Professor Quirrell-his future Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher- who kept stammering and stuttering and was constantly shaking ("P-p-p-ple-pleasure t-t-t-to-to m-m-me-meet y-y-y-you-you P-P-P-Pot-Pot-Potter"), Harry and Percy followed Hagrid to the back of the pub, being stopped by Doris Crockford again ("You've got an admirer Hazza!" Percy had joked quietly) before entering a small room.

It was made out of bricks and had a few barrels of beer and other alcohols on the floor.

"Hagrid?" Harry asked, once they were out of sight from the bar area, "Why did all of those people know who I was?"

"Harry yer famous!" Hagrid boomed, "Yeh stopped the most evil wizard aroun'. When yeh was one! Now where's me bloody umbrella?" Hagrid began looking through his coat for his pink accessory. Harry turned around to talk to his brother about his quietness in the pub while he had the chance. He saw him searching behind a barrel of mead.

"Percy!" he hissed, "Stop snooping around,"

His brother grinned a shit-eating smile, "Look what I've found!"

He was holding a ball-point pen. It had a bronze colour and was much like any generic pen that could be bought from a stationary shop.

"This is a dope pen," he said, "I'm keeping this for school."

He flicked off the lid to check the ink.

And, as you do, it turned into a freaking sword.

It had a metre long bronze blade and had a powerful aura. It gave off a glow that brightened up the room. Luckily Hagrid did not notice as he was still looking for his umbrella. There was an inscription in the side of the leaf shaped blade that had Greek letters that read out:

 _Anaklusmos_

"Riptide," the brothers translated imdry ft mediately. They both looked at each other in complete panic and confusion.

"Whassat?" Hagrid asked, having finally found his umbrella. Percy hastily slid the pen-sword across the floor into the corner before Hagrid could see it.

"Nothing," he said casually, his voice calm, but his eyes showed his panic.

' _Not keeping the pen. No way José!'_ Percy telepathically said to Harry.

' _Seconded,'_ he mentally replied.

Meanwhile, Hagrid had been tapping the back wall. After he had touched a few bricks. A hole appeared. Hagrid stepped back with a smug satisfaction on his face.

The hole kept expanding, getting bigger and bigger until an archway was formed that was at least ten feet high.

The scene beyond it made the magic sword fiasco disappear from the Potters' minds.

"Welcome ter Diagon Alley!"

* * *

Harry's two eyes were not enough to soak in the entirety of Diagon Alley. It was so colourful and all that Harry thought was that everywhere else would be dull by comparison.

"This place is freaking amazing," Percy gasped, his sea-green eyes wide open in astonishment.

"It's great isn't it?" Hagrid replied gazing around. Harry numbly nodded, awestruck by his surroundings.

They just stood there for a moment, lapping up the atmosphere as cloaked men and women walked past, busy doing errands.

"Firs' things firs'" Hagrid announced, snapping the boys out of their stupor, "We need ter get yeh some some money."

Hagrid began to stride down the street and the brothers had to jog to keep up. Passers-by nodded in recognition at the giant.

"Hagrid, what exactly is the currency of wizardry?" Percy asked, perplexed by the money he had handled earlier that morning.

"It's not too hard," Hagrid explained while the boys listened intently.

"There are knuts, sickles and galleons. There are twenty one knuts-"

"The little, bronze ones," Percy added, nodding his head.

"Yeh, well, twenty one knuts to a silver sickle, an' 17 sickles to a gold galleon."

"Who the fuck made up this?" Percy moaned, throwing his hands up into the air for dramatic effect, "This is fucked up! Why not 100 knuts to a sickle, huh? That would be soooooo much easier to remember."

"Must have been _a nutty geezer and a half_!" Harry laughed, impersonating his brother and taking some words from his very strange internal dictionary.

"You're a thief, Harry," Percy playfully scolded, "You stole the words right out of my mouth!"

The boys laughed as they continued their journey down the exciting road, and Percy's laughter distracted him from feeling a certain pen appear in his pocket.

* * *

Eventually, the group reached the end of the street. There stood a large, white building with pillars at the front. It rose high into the bright sky and was topped by a glass dome.

"Yer lookin' at Gringotts, lads," Hagrid said, "Safest place fer somethin' to be. Except maybe Hogwarts."

The party walked forwards towards the doors of the building. There was a plaque on the wall that had some writing on it.

 **/\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\**

 **\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/**

 **Enter, stranger, but take heed**

 **Of what awaits the sin of greed**

 **For those who take, but do not earn**

 **Must pay most dearly in their turn**

 **So if you seek beneath our floors**

 **A treasure that was never yours**

 **Thief, you have been warned, beware**

 **Of finding more than treasure there.**

 **/\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\ /\**

 **\/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/**

"Yeh would be mad ter try an' rob the place," Hagrid added as they looked at the passage.

"Indubitably," Percy nodded. Harry agreed. Who knows what could be found down there. The text made it sound like there were horrible monsters lurking in the bank. The trio made their way forward and opened the huge white doors.

The inside of the wizard bank was very big and very professional. Chandeliers hung down from the high ceiling, twinkling from the light that poured through the huge glass dome that they'd seen at the top of the building earlier. As they walked down a quartz path, employees worked on either side of them. All of them were tiny faced goblins with cruel eyes and pointed ears sat at desks making notes and weighing expensive jewels. Harry stared in awe at a ruby that a goblin on their right was weighing; it must have been as big as a football. Whoever owned that must have been stinking rich.

Soon they arrived at what seemed to be the reception. There was a high, marble desk that Harry couldn't see over, but was a little bit shorter than Hagrid, who could see over it easily. Percy jumped up, grabbed the edge of the desk and pulled himself up. He looked around like a meerkat and slammed his hand down on a small silver bell. A resonating ting echoed around the large hall.

Percy dropped down and yelled at the top of his voice,

"I'D LIKE TO MAKE A WITHDRAWAL PLEASE!"

A long, pointed nose appeared over the edge of the table. It was swiftly followed by the grotesque face of a goblin who was wearing small glasses. His beady eyes glared in disgust at Percy, who gave him a supposedly innocent smile. The goblin scowled at him before turning his attention to Hagrid.

"Which Vault?" came his snobby voice. Before Harry could say anything, Hagrid answered for him.

"Vault 613," he said. The goblin then asked him if he had a key.

"'Ang on, it's in 'ere somewhere…" Hagrid said, as he searched through his multitude of pockets. During the process he dumped some mouldy dog biscuits on the desk. The goblin scowled at it. Harry deduced that scowling was common thing with goblins and wondered if they ever smiled. Percy pulled himself up and sniffed the pile. He fell down and gagged at the horrible stench.

"Oh hell no!" he yelled, "Want a smell, Harry?"

Harry did the obvious thing, and politely refused.

"Ah, 'ere it is!" Hagrid bellowed in triumph, brandishing a golden key, which he passed to the goblin, who took it very gingerly, as if it was mouldy as well.

"I've also got a special request fer Dumbledore," he added in a low voice, giving the goblin a letter, which was opened, read and returned to Hagrid.

"It's about yeh-know-what in Vault yeh-know-which," Hagrid whispered. The goblin nodded.

"Very well," the goblin said sharply, "Griphook! Vault 613 and...that one."

A new goblin appeared. He looked even more cruel with a permanent scowl etched upon his ugly, little face, "This way," he barked as he gestured them through a door next to the main desk. Percy grinned and said goodbye to the receptionist, who grunted and got back to his work.

The area beyond the door that Griphook took them to was a dark cave, which completely contrasted the bright hall above. It seemed to be very deep and Harry could not see the bottom. A set of rails twisted through the underground cavern and there were many vault doors on the walls where there were balconies of rock that jutted out.

Griphook jumped onto a metal cart that rested on the rails in front of them.

Percy prodded it gently with his finger and it creaked horribly.

"Is this thing even safe?" Harry asked the goblin, shocked at the fragileness of the vehicle.

Griphook shrugged evilly, "Nobody's fallen off...yet," he said, deliberately drawing out the words to make him have second thoughts, but it was too late for that, Hagrid shepherded him on with a face that suggested that he was not too excited about the ride that was about to happen.

As soon as they had sat down in some rather uncomfortable seats, the cart set off at an incredibly fast speed. It raced around the corners and loops of the rickety track without slowing down.

"I don't think I like goblins too much, Hagrid," Harry managed to say through clenched teeth. He feared that should he have opened his mouth, he would surely bite off his own tongue.

"The feelin's mutual," Hagrid muttered, turning a lovely shade of green, "Yeh can trust a goblin with nothin'. Innit fer the gold, the greedy blighters."

On the other side of Harry, Percy was whooping and shouting. He had his arms raised above his head into the air (at the speed they were going, Harry was surprised that they weren't being ripped off) and was acting like a complete child.

So, no change there.

Eventually, they came to a stop, and Hagrid had to lean against the wall for support. Percy didn't get to the wall on time and fell flat on his face.

'Typical Perce,' Harry thought, rolling his eyes at his brother's antics.

During this, Griphook was stood patiently beside vault door 613.

"Key," he commanded, and Hagrid passed him the key from earlier. It took a few attempts as the nausea had not worn of yet. Griphook took it and inserted it into a small keyhole in the door. A couple of turns and then the door began to open.

Harry's eyes widened and his jaw dropped to the floor. He had been expecting a small pile of the currency, enough to get by on. However, inside there were heaps of gold, silver and bronze coins. Percy, in his excitement, ran around the large room, touching every knut and hugging every stack of galleons he could see.

"Yeh didn't think yer parents would leave yeh with nothin', did yeh?" Hagrid chuckled, as he pulled out two velvet pouches from one of his breast pockets.

Harry was in a trance. There was more money lying in front of him than Dudley had ever touched in his entire disappointing life.

And it was all his. And Percy's, too.

Hagrid had poured dozens of galleons into the small bags along with a few sickles and knuts.

"C'mon boys!" Hagrid called, as he walked back out of the vault. Percy's head popped out from a mountain of money in the middle of the room, sending a mini avalanche of coins down onto the floor. He climbed out and hurried back to the others, with more cash in his hands for him to spend.

* * *

After Griphook had locked up their vault and they had clambered by into the rusty cart, they sped off, with Griphook telling Hagrid that they could not go any slower and that there was only one speed. The cold air whipped through Harry's hair as they went deeper and deeper.

Five minutes of speeding, twisting and looping, they stopped at another door, but this one was more intricately design and did not have a keylock.

Griphook waddled forward and scraped his long, dirty fingernail against a groove in the door, and, with a series of clanks, it opened up slowly.

"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried ter do tha', they'd be sucked inside with no way ter get out," Hagrid informed them.

"How often do they check to see if anyone is inside?" Harry wondered aloud.

"Only once every ten years," Griphook said, with an evil grin. So clearly, goblins do smile, only when it's about dark things like people suffering, nice things like that.

When the door fully opened, Harry leant back instinctively, expecting a massive diamond or a horrible monster guarding a golden chest. But the vault was…empty. Apart from a tiny, grubby little package on the floor, which Hagrid scooped up and put in his pocket, there was nothing there. Hagrid glanced at the two disappointed brothers.

"Could yeh keep tha' a top secret?" Hagrid asked, "Strictly speakin' no one is s'posed ter know 'bout this."

"Certainly," Harry replied. Why did Hagrid want him to keep everything a secret?

"Also," he said, as they walked back to the cart, "could yeh not talk to me for a while. I'll probably puke in yer face."

"Yummy yum," Percy said sarcastically, as they boarded the cart for the last time.

* * *

 **One Hectic Ride Later...**

* * *

They left the building and waited outside for a while for Hagrid to recover, as he had turned a horrific shade of white, which looked completely odd with his dark beard.

"Here comes the money!" Percy sang.

"What's that?" Harry asked, as he'd never heard that song before.

"Hmm? Oh, it's Shane O'Mac's the-" he froze mid-sentence

"What is it?" Harry asked. Percy's hand drifted to his pocket.

"That's not good," he muttered, eyes wide open. He retracted his hand from his pocket to reveal the pen that he had disposed of earlier in the Leaky Cauldron.

"How did yo-"

"I don't know," Percy exclaimed, "It was just there!"

"Get rid of it!"

"What if it comes back? What do I do then?" Percy said, scared. Harry had never seen him like this before.

"Keep it? I mean, what's wrong with having a sword handy, right?" Harry said trying to calm his brother. Percy nodded before throwing the pen onto the roof of the bank, where no one could possibly find it to return it to his pocket. Hagrid came out to meet them, having enough time to regain some colour in his face. He stopped momentarily, to make sure he had got the boys with him, and they went down the street.

Harry continued what he did as he walked towards the bank, and was gawping at the shops on either side. There was even a pet shop that sold all sorts of strange animals, including, unsurprisingly, owls.

Further down the road, there was a crowd of boys and girls, who were pressed against a display window, staring at what was there. Harry and Percy squeezed through them to see what had aroused such a big crowd.

There was a broomstick, sitting on a red pedestal with a spotlight on it. The shaft of the stick was a slick black and was polished to a shine. The twigs that protruded out of the back were neat and ended in a point.

"The Nimbus 2000!" a boy in the crowd exclaimed in awe.

"It's the fastest one yet!" another yelled.

"I want one so badly!" came a moan.

The brothers returned to Hagrid who was looking at the crowd with a smile.

"Broomsticks?" Harry asked.

"Why not?" Percy shrugged. His face morphed into a grin. Harry shuddered at the thought of Percy zooming around on a flying broomstick.

Their giant friend motioned them to carry on walking.

"Firs', yeh'll need to get yer clothes sorted," he spoke. They stopped in front of a shop that read 'Madam Malkins' Robes for all Occasions'

The door opened with a pretty ting. Inside, there were racks upon racks of different assortments of clothes. There were casual robes, black ones, blue ones and one rack that was labeled 'muggle clothes'. Hell, they even passed a pink robe!

Soon, they found an aging woman who had deep smile lines on her cheeks and around her eyes.

"Hello there, children," she said in a rather motherly tone, "New Hogwarts students? They've been pouring in all week. Hello Hagrid. I'm afraid you'll have to stay here. Care to look at the new robes?"

After showing Hagrid some oversized new coats, Madam Malkins directed the boys to a measuring room, where she took their measurements. After five minutes, she made to leave, but Percy paused her for a brief conversation. Eventually, she nodded and gave him an amused smile, and left the room.

"What did you talk to her about?" Harry asked, having not caught a word of the discussion.

"I just asked her to spice things up a bit. I'm not a massive fan of the boringness of the uniform," he explained. Typical. Leave it to Percy to not be normal.

Soon, another boy came into the room and sat opposite them. He had blond hair that was nearly white which was slicked back over his head. His posture suggested that he thought he had swagger. He looked at everything but the brothers, as if they weren't important. After a brief moment of awkwardness, Harry broke the ice.

"Hello," he said openly to the new boy. His head snapped towards them, as if he thought that they'd never even think about talking to him. He had a constant sneer on his face like he thought that he was better than everything else.

He looked the brothers up and down. "Hogwarts? Not surprised. Everybody is going to that stupid school. I wanted to go to a much better place in Europe called Durmstrang, but my mother forced me to stay in England."

"What house do you think you'll be in?" he asked, his voice cocky and stuck up. Harry was confused.

"Umm…"

"I'll probably be in Slytherin. All of my family has been and always will be," he drawled. Harry was started to not like this kid, "If I get put in Hufflepuff, I'd commit suicide. They're the most pointless group in the world."

Harry was confused. What on earth was Hufflepuff? Slytherin?

"It is stupid that first years can't play Quidditch. Stupid Dumbledore and his stupid rules. I've been practicing for years and I'm obviously good enough to-"

"Excuse me, mate," Percy interrupted with contempt, while the boy stared at him as if he couldn't believe someone would cut him off.

"Could you shut the fuck up?"

The boy turned red with anger, "How dare you!? Do you know who I am? I am Draco Malfoy!"

"And I couldn't give a shit!"

Fortunately, Madam Malkins appeared at the door and called for the brothers. As they followed the lady out of the room, Percy called the boy a wanker and flipped the bird at him.

"I must apologise for my actions, Madam Malkins," Percy said, as soon as they had gotten out of earshot of the boy, "That was rash of me, but he was getting on my nerves."

"There is no need to apologise, young one," the kind woman said, "I have no love for the Malfoys."

Harry laughed with his brother at the boy's misfortune.

* * *

After Madam Malkins had made sure their new uniforms fitted, they paid for her services. Percy paid twice as much as Harry did because of not only the improvements of his clothes, but also a tip for hospitality. Even so, they still had lots left to spend.

They met with Hagrid, who led them to the next shop, the bookstore, where they bought all of the necessary textbooks needed for the school year. Hagrid had stopped Harry and Percy from getting a book of curses they wanted to use on Dudley.

"But Hagrid," Percy whined, as he dragged them out of the store, "He deserves it!"

"I'm not saying that he doesn't," Hagrid said light-heartedly, "But I don't want yeh two ter stoop that low."

Over the course of the day, the trio went up and down the street, buying all of the necessary items for school. Though there were some times when Percy slowed the process down.

Even though it said 'pewter' on the list, Hagrid could not stop Percy from buying a collapsable, gold cauldron. Indeed, Percy was splashing the cash. He had a reason: he'd been homeless for ten years. Money is a rarity to the homeless. Most only dream to have as much cash as Percy did now.

By midday, they had nearly purchased everything on the list. There was only one thing remaining. The one thing that Harry was most excited about and, by the looks of it, Percy was excited about it too.

They walked down Diagon Alley for what seemed like the millionth time until they stopped in front of a small shop.

The sign was aged and cracked. Much like the Leaky Cauldron, unless it was pointed out, no one would notice it as it was dull; a contradiction to the rest of the street.

The tattered sign read 'Ollivander's: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC'

"If yeh want a wand," Hagrid said, looking nostalgic, "Ollivander's is the best place ter go. I got mah wand from 'ere too, before it was…" he trailed off.

"Yeh boys go inside an' buy yer wands. I need ter do somethings. Like gettin' yeh a present!" Hagrid bellowed.

"Oh Hagrid!" Harry protested, "You don't need to do that!"

"Nonsense!" Hagrid snorted, "Now go!" he shooed the boys inside the wand shop and then left to go elsewhere.

Inside were large shelves everywhere, reaching from the ceiling to floor, wall to wall. On these shelves were thousands of boxes of different colours and sizes.

Excluding this, there was a desk with a small bell (very much similar to the one at Gringotts and two chairs: one behind the desk and a plush one near the window, which had a wand displayed on a velvet pillow inside.

Nobody was in sight, nor was there a single sound. Harry made to ring the silver bell. However, as his hard was about to touch it, a bizarre looking man appeared around the corner.

He was obviously quite aged, as his face had plenty of wrinkles. He had silver hair that was wild and stuck out of his head as if he had been electrocuted. His eyes were plain creepy.

The irises were thick bands of pure silver colour, like he was analyzing everything in his sight.

"Bob?" Percy asked, a look of recognition on his face.

"No," replied the man, "My name is Ollivander. Not Bob."

"I'm sorry," Percy replied confused, with a voice that suggested that his focus wasn't in his apology, "You reminded me of someone…"

Ollivander gave Percy an odd glance, and turned his head to train his silver eyes on Harry. His eyes widened.

"I was wondering when the Boy Who Lived would come to my little shop," Ollivander said, smirking, "Who is your accomplice Mr Potter?"

"Oh, me?" Percy said innocently, "Just his supposedly dead brother."

Ollivander blinked twice, then stared at percy as if trying to bear a hole through him. Any other person would have reacted under his gaze, but Percy stared straight back at him.

"You're never someone I expected to see again here, Perseus Jackson," the wand maker said. After he said this, Percy doubled up and grasped his head, as if he was having a migraine. A few seconds later, he straightened himself up, albeit rather shakily.

"You both have your mother's eyes. I remember every person that I serve a wand to, you know. Your mother's wand was very good for charms: ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Seems like only yesterday…"

Suddenly, the white-haired man zipped away, searching through the library of wands, "Which is your wand arm, Potter?" he inquired, whilst looking into a peculiar red drawer.

"Right-" Harry replied.

"Left," Percy said at the same time. Harry looked at him in confusion.

"You're left handed?" Harry asked in surprise. Percy cocked an eyebrow.

"You didn't notice?"

"Hey, are you ok?" Harry asked his brother. His reaction to that name had not been in the slightest bit healthy.

"Yeah, just some weird memories. Don't worry about it," he said, as if he wasn't sure if he had said the right word.

Ollivander interrupted them by forcing a wand into Harry's hand.

"Beechwood and Dragon Heartstring. Nine inches. Give it a whirl!" Ollivander instructed.

Percy mimicked a swish next to Harry and made it look like he was trying to throttle his hand off of his wrist. Clearly, he had recovered from his episode earlier, or was hiding it very well.

Harry looked at his brother and flicked his hand. Instantly, Mr. Ollivander stole it from him.

"No, no!" he exclaimed, "Definitely not!" he boxed the wand and placed the box in Percy's hands. He gave a shorter wand to Harry which he pronounced as a seven inch unicorn hair wand made out of oak. Harry had barely touched when it had been ripped away from him and passed onto Percy. This process was repeated multiple times so that Percy was holding a pile of boxes bigger than himself, which he had to place on the floor to stop it from falling on him. Surprisingly, Ollivander was not getting angry at the length of the time it was taking to find Harry a wand. In fact, it was quite the contrary.

"I love a tricky customer," he grinned, "Makes it so much more interesting."

He paused, thinking, then walked to the back of the shop disappearing into the many shelves.

"Mmm...I wonder," came his thoughtful voice. He came back to the boys holding an old, brown box. The lid had been partially taken off, so the wand inside could be seen.

Ollivander passed the eleven inch wand to Harry gently, as if he had a prediction that this was the one. As soon as the wand touched his fingers, an electric shock ran through his body. He gave the wand a majestic flick and red sparks flew out of the wand, lighting up the shop. Percy gave him a trademark grin.

"Very interesting," Ollivander said, looking at him thoughtfully.

"It just so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand donated only one other feather," Ollivander said, glancing at him in the eye, "It is strange that you were destined to have this wand, when its brother gave you that scar."

Harry's hand immediately snapped up to his forehead out of instinct. Ollivander broke them out of their stupor by standing up straight abruptly. Harry would need to ask Hagrid about that later. There were too many things that he needed to know about.

* * *

If it took a long time for Ollivander to find Harry a wand, it took an eternity for Percy. Hundreds and hundreds of wands were stacked up and more were being brought to him. None of them seemed to be right. The names whizzed through Harry's head and came out of the other side as there were so many.

Even Ollivander was becoming agitated. Sure, he said that he liked a picky customer, but this was ridiculous. Half a goddamn hour.

Soon, Ollivander was looking at Percy suspiciously, trying to look into the boy. See if he was hiding something.

Eventually, he stopped.

"Is something wrong?" Percy asked from where he had been standing for a long time.

"You know, I've served so many people. Never has one of them entered my shop already in possession of a wand," Ollivander scowled.

Percy's hand snuck down to his pocket as his eyes widened. Sure enough, his hand came back out with the one and only bronze pen.

"For fuck's sake," Percy yelled, "Listen, sir, this isn't a wand."

Ollivander's eyes bugged out of his head, "It is, boy! Why, if I'm not mistaken, that is the wand of the legendary Ignotus Peverell!"

He snatched it from Percy's hand.

"That's rude," Percy pouted. Ollivander inspected it and twisted it in his grasp. Soon, he found a switch on the side of the pen. He pushed it forward, and the pen changed again. This time, instead of a sword, it turned into a wand.

It was black with a red tinge to it, giving it a pleasing colour. A wave pattern was engraved down the side and flowed down to the tip of the wand. Its grip was exactly the same as the sword they'd seen earlier.

Percy held it and swished it. Similar to what happened to Harry, light burst out of the end of the wand. However, these sparks were much brighter and were much more excited than the ones that Harry had created.

"It works perfectly with you, but that was meant for Ignotus," Ollivander wondered out loud, "Where did you find this? It has been lost since Ignotus died."

"Uh, I found it near a barrel of beer," Percy replied sheepishly, "One question. Was he an alcoholic?"

Harry covered his laughter with a cough.

"However you may have found it, you have a powerful wand in your possession Perseus. Do not misuse it." Ollivander warned. The bell on the door rang and Hagrid walked in.

"Ah, just finished 'ave yeh? That's good." Hagrid said.

"Anyone fer a drink?"

* * *

Hagrid took them outside, away from Ollivander. Instantly, the mood became much less awkward. Hagrid, after the boys showed him their wands, gave them the presents he had bought for them.

He had purchased the brothers owls from the pet shop on the other side of the street. For Harry, he had bought a female, snowy white owl. Percy received a pitch black owl with piercing green eyes. Both species were rare to find and were quite expensive, but Hagrid had been adamant that he pay for it all. He explained that owls, as well as being awesome pets, could deliver mail. With owls of their size, they could take the siblings' packages and letters anywhere in the world.

As they now had all of the things they needed, Hagrid took them back to the Leaky Cauldron and treated them to a drink. The pub was nearly deserted compared to when they had visited nearly six hours ago. Tom the bartender was shining a beer glass and an old man sat in the corner, silently sipping on some mead.

Hagrid ordered a tankard of mead while the boys had to settle with water. They sat down near the wall and drank their drinks quietly.

"Hagrid," Harry said breaking the silence, "Why did everyone know who I was? What did I do?"

Hagrid set down his mug, "It may sound stupid, but it's because yeh lived. When you was one, a dark wizard named...named…"

Hagrid glanced around, "Fuck it," he whispered, "he was called Voldemort." he shivered, as if the word was cursed.

"He was a dark wizard, as dark as yeh can find. He had his goals, an' killed anyone who got in his way." At this, Harry and Percy saw a green flash in their minds, though Percy's vision was a lot more violent.

"He came into yer house, and killed yer parents, and supposedly killed yeh as well, Perce," he said, pointing at Perseus.

"But somehow, he couldn't kill yeh, and he killed himself in the progress. Yeh saved a lot of people. I was the one who saved yeh from the wreckage of yer house. Everyone else had gone."

Silent tears streamed down the brothers faces as memories sped through their heads.

Percy quickly composed himself as Harry wiped away his tears, "Do you know where the loo is?"

Hagrid was knocked out of his reverie, "Yeh, first door on the left,"

As Percy walked away, he was lost in thought. His life was too full of secrets, too many things he didn't understand. Why was he spared whilst his innocent parents perished? Why was there no sign of Percy at the wreckage? He was so confused.

His mind ached with discomfort, so he grabbed Hagrid's tankard and took a swig of his alcohol.

" _Jesus fucking Christ! That burns!"_

* * *

 **I wanted to finish this by Christmas. Oh well.**

 **I have a couple of reasons for not doing this very quickly. I lost my electronic devices quite a few times, so I started writing it down properly, which took forever. I also got friendzoned badly (sorry if you're reading this) which was some emotional stress which stopped me writing.**

 **As always, Favourite and Follow (If you want) and please, please, please review. It gives me more motivation than you think (canadiandemigod made me so giddy, cheers mate)**

 **Until next time,**

 **NAYT signing off.**


	5. Hogwarts Express

_**NAYT owns nothing but a cardboard box and a computer!**_

* * *

Just like that, their lives had changed forever. When they got back to the house on Privet Drive with all of their wizarding luggage, they thought life would go back to normal. They were wrong. Only slightly wrong though.

The Dursleys, instead of treating them like unwanted dog food, acted as if they didn't exist. They only talked to the brothers only when completely necessary. Dudley steered well clear of the boys and often ran out of the room when one of them entered it. They were frightened that they would pull off a pig's-tail trick again, and so made it so that they would never anger them.

Percy made a field day out of this. At dinner time, he would often dance around Uncle Vernon's chair. It made him angry up to his constantly cherry-red nose, but he didn't dare speak out or berate him about it lest he incur his wrath. He did not want to be part pig.

The Dursleys' isolation from the twins was definitely taken advantage of. They didn't have to do any chores. They were left to gaze in wonder at their new books in peace.

This gave Harry lots of time to think. One day, whilst Percy was propped up against the wall reading _'_ _A History of Magic'_ , Harry was envisaging about Hogwarts.

"Percy, I'm worried about school," he said to his brother. Harry had learnt to value his insane wisdom.

"How so?" he responded, not looking up from his book.

"Well, we have only recently known that we're wizards and have no experience. We'll be far behind everyone else academically," he said. Percy set down his book and adopted a thoughtful face.

"I remember reading something about Hogwarts accepting wizards from non-wizarding families. They'll probably be in the same situation as us," he said, nodding.

Satisfied, Harry lay back down onto his bed. He was a little nervous about school. Just a little. He was the boy who lived, a celebrity in the wizarding world, but he didn't know anything.

He supposed that Percy had it a bit harder. He was dead in everyone else's eyes. He wondered how well Percy could hide his inside emotions. It was unbelievable how much stuff he could keep entirely to himself.

'He'll be fine,' Harry reassured himself, 'The best thing you can do right now is study.'

And study he did.

* * *

 **A few days before Hogwarts.**

* * *

Harry had studied as hard as he could in the month he had had before he went to school, but studying just wasn't natural to him.

The same could not be said for Percy. He had gone through every single book at least three times. And he said he had dyslexia as well!

He had been forcing his way through _'_ _Magical beasts and where to find them'_ when Percy slammed the cover of his copy shut. For the fifth time.

"Harry, how are we getting to Hogwarts again?" Percy asked. Harry looked up.

"I remember Hagrid giving you some tickets," Harry remembered, "Where are they?"

"One second."

Percy screwed his face up in concentration. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw a small mist floating towards the brothers. Suddenly, it solidified into two rectangular sheets of paper with a brown tinge to it. They fluttered to the ground delicately. Percy gasped and snatched them out of the air. He was breathing heavily.

"That is such a bitch to my energy," he rasped, "Sucks it straight out of my body."

Harry inspected the tickets. They were fragile things. Aside from that, they were just like any other ticket. An eleven o'clock train from King's Cross Station to Hogsmeade.

Harry relayed the information to Percy, who nodded.

"What's Hogsmeade?" Harry asked, wondering why the train would not take them straight to Hogwarts.

"It's a small town nearby the school," his brother said, recalling parts of the books he read, "There's a station there, and we have to take some other means of transportation to the school. It's named after Hogwarts as well."

"Talking about stations, Percy," Harry said, "We need to ask Uncle Vernon to take us to London on September 1st."

"I doubt Fatty Fuck-Face downstairs would take us, but it's worth a shot." Percy mumbled under his breath as he sat up. Harry stifled a laugh, and followed him downstairs, instinctually missing the creaking step as he walked. Soon, they were in the kitchen, where the Dursley's were eating.

Uncle Vernon's red face was lost in his cereal bowl, and Dudley was tentatively sitting himself in his chair at the head of the table. Aunt Petunia was at the sink washing up.

Petunia noticed their presence first, gave them a small hateful glance, and subtly notified Vernon, who lifted his beady eyes towards the boys. Dudley shrank under the table.

"What you want?" he demanded gruffly. Percy stepped towards him. Dudley whimpered. Everyone ignored him.

"On September 1st, my brother and I need a lift down to King's Cross Station so we can get to school," Percy said boldly, with an expression that said that he was not going to back down.

Vernon glared at the boy for a good minute before responding grumpily, "Fine."

"You see we're wizards now and we can curse you if we - wait! You'll take us?" Percy exclaimed, clearly surprised that he did not have to have a debate about the matter.

"Luckily for you little ungrateful snobs," he snarled, "we have to go to London anyway to get Dudley's blasted tail off."

Percy didn't stop laughing until he was back upstairs.

* * *

 **September 1st**

* * *

The big day had arrived for the brothers. They woke up at six and were bouncing around the room until eight until Vernon arrived at the door and threatened to bash their heads in with a spoon. Grinning, Percy and Harry had promptly whipped out their wands and started chasing the fat man all around the house.

They had packed all of their stuff the day before and started stuffing it into the back of the car before Dudley had even had his sixth bowl of cereal. They waited impatiently in the back seats as the family slowly sauntered out of the house.

The trip down to London was painstakingly slow. There happened to be a massive traffic jam on the motorway because some doofus tried to jump into a car from his motorbike. Two lanes were blocked and emergency services were everywhere.

During the journey, to pass the time, Percy and Harry played a game where they had to steal as many crisps as possible from Dudley without him knowing. Percy obviously won. Fifty minutes after they started the game, he managed to steal the entire bag undetected.

Eventually, they got to London town. The traffic got worse and worse as they got closer to the station. Percy contemplated getting out and walking, but realised that he had _'_ _a shit load of stuff'_ and that he couldn't dream of carrying it all the way.

They finally reached King's Cross with (miraculously) half an hour to spare. Percy sprinted off to get some trolleys for all of their luggage. They pulled their school stuff onto them and started off towards the platforms. Instantly, Aunt Petunia was pulled away to a McDonald's by Dudley. The boys were left with Vernon.

Such joy.

Luckily their owls, Hedwig and Theseus (they had named them as soon as they had got back from Diagon Alley) arrived before they went inside. Vernon did not want any more owls near him or, by extension, his car. The boys had told their incredibly loyal pets to follow the car and rendezvous with them at their destination.

The owls shimmied into their cages and the boys gave them some treats for being good pets.

At this point the boys and Vernon were wandering around the platforms.

"Which one are we supposed to be at, Percy?" Harry asked. Percy stopped and started digging through his pockets until he brandished the familiar pieces of paper. He searched the writing. His eyes popped out at one point. He blinked twice and rubbed the paper.

"What the hell is this!?" he exclaimed, "Platform nine and three quarters?!"

Harry rushed over and looked at the tickets. Sure enough, the decimal platform was there.

Uncle Vernon had gained an evil grin, "Oh no! Your platform doesn't exist! See you next July!"

He stalked off laughing maniacally, while Percy screamed profanities at his retreating figure.

When he had calmed down, the boys decided to investigate the area between platforms nine and ten. They asked the guy on duty, but he just told them to move along, go back to their parents (which stung) and stop wasting his time.

They checked the side doors at the bottom of the platforms, but came to no avail. Percy even managed to climb one of the brick pillars to check the ceiling. Evidently, no platform nine and three quarters up there. After his little disappointment, he dropped down all the way from the ceiling. As he landed, he swiftly put his momentum into a roll to slow him down.

With five minutes before the train left, the brothers resorted to roaming the platforms they were on in the odd chance of finding someone who knew how to get to the train to Hogwarts.

Percy, being the lazy prat he is, laid down on his luggage (which can't have been comfortable) and used a small part of his hydrokinetic powers to push him around. He received a few odd looks, but no one seemed to interested in how the cart was pushing itself.

Just as they were about to lose hope, Harry overheard a small part of a conversation near the track on the other side of the platform.

"George, get down you'll alert the muggles attentio-" The rest was cut off as they passed behind one of the pillars.

The boys shared a look of relief and excitement, as they knew that the voice that they heard must have belonged to that of a wizard due to the use of the term _'_ _muggle'_.

Harry chased after his brother who was using his powers over water to zip towards the voices. Percy looked back at Harry and stuck his tongue out.

"Come on you slowpoke!" he taunted, as his trolley made a light turn around a pillar.

Percy was too busy taunting his sibling to notice where his trolley was headed. But Harry could see where he was directed. Percy was speeding straight towards a red-headed family led by a small pudgy woman.

"Percy, look out!" he yelled in warning. Percy quickly twisted from his position to see where he was going. With a surprised yelp, he quickly hit the brakes. Unfortunately, that meant that him and some of his luggage which he had not strapped down went flying off the trolley towards the red-heads, who were looking at him, bracing themselves for an imminent collision.

* * *

Percy felt himself get launched into the air. After a brief moment of shock, his ADHD mind got to action. He quickly grabbed all of his air born belongings and held them close. Then, after noticing the braced family, used a subtle amount of his powers to push him to the floor.

He collided with the concrete with a painful thud. He felt his shoulder snap out of place as he landed. The impact caused him to drop his things, and everything slid along the platform floor.

He came to a stop at somebody's feet. He cursed quietly as he grasped his shoulder. As he turned to get up, he had a very strange series of events.

Firstly, when looked up, he saw the face of a girl near his age. She was one of the members of the red-haired family and had lively, excited light blue eyes. She had light freckles splattered across her face, which Percy thought made her look quite cute, which in turn made Percy question why he thought such things.

Secondly, his heart skipped a beat. He had heard of such things happening to other people, when they met the girl/guy of their dreams etc. But it still confused him to the heavens.

Thirdly, when she offered him a hand up (at which he blushed profusely), he felt a massive shock go through his body from head to toe. And from her expression, she felt it too. Why on earth would something like that happen.

"I am so sorry," he apologised, "I wasn't looking where I was going. Did you get hurt?"

"No," she replied shyly, with a blush evident on her face. Percy was certain that his face was a similar colour.

"Are you alright there?" came another, much older, voice. Percy turned to see the plump lady he had spotted.

"Oh yeah, just a little scratch here or there, ma'am. Thanks for asking." He subconsciously held his dislocated shoulder.

"Please," she said in a friendly tone, "Call me Molly. Molly Weasley."

"I'm Percy," he replied, "Sorry for nearly hitting your daughter."

"It's not a problem," she said nicely, whilst checking the girl for any injuries, "As long as you are both okay."

At that moment, Harry came along, pushing both of their trolleys, Percy's stuff having been replaced by him.

"Are you alright bro," he asked, concerned.

"Yeah, no big boo boos on this boy," he said. Everyone chuckled.

After inspecting their luggage, Mrs. Weasley said quietly, "Are you two going to Hogwarts?"

They nodded and told her that it was their first year and they had spent ages trying to find the platform.

"Oh, my son Ron is in first year too," she pointed at a lanky boy with spangley limbs, "If you don't know how to get to the platform you can come with us."

The family set off down platform nine and, once Percy had gotten his trolley back and reset his injured shoulder (which hurt like a bitch with rabies), the Potters followed them.

When they caught up with them, one of the older boys of the family was running towards a wall. He disappeared momentarily behind the bustling crowd and when they parted seconds later, he had disappeared for good.

"That's trippy," Percy whispered to Harry, "Where'd he go?"

"Go on George," Molly said turning to another of the older boys.

"I'm Fred!" the boy said, sounding insulted.

"What kind of mother are you if you can't remember the names of your children? Seriously, come on, woman!" his brother, who looked exactly the same as the other boy and was most likely his twin.

As they started to run towards the wall, the first boy turned back to his mother and said, "Just kidding, I am George!"

He and his twin, now known to be Fred, dashed to the wall, and too were gone without a trace.

"How do you…" Percy asked, miming running into a wall with his hands.

"Just go straight towards it," she said encouragingly, "Usually, on your first go, it's easier to run."

The boys did as she instructed, and aimed their trolleys towards the wall.

"YOLO!" Percy yelled as he sprinted into the wall, with Harry hot on his tail.

Suddenly, just as they were about to hit the bricks, they emerged into a completely new place.

It had an old, yet cosy feel to it with buildings painted with yellows and browns. An old fashioned platform lined a train track. On the track was the most stereotypical train the boys had ever seen.

The train was a deep red, with black and yellow lines outlining the curves in the metal. There were carriages made out of wood and painted green. Smoke poured out of the top of the train.

Hanging from the side of the station house was a swinging sign that read:

 **Platform 9¾**

They had made it.

* * *

They were in a crowd of kids of varied ages. The boys could see a bunch of people crowded around a coloured guy holding a box. He lifted the lid slightly and a long, thin, hairy leg poked out. There were a few girlish screams.

They passed a chubby boy with a round face moaning to his grandmother that he had lost his toad.

The boys put their luggage away in the hold and gave their owls to a man with a fez or something of the like. Just as they did this they heard the whistle of the train, signalling that it was about to leave.

As they made to get on one of the carriages, they passed Mrs. Weasley and her daughter, who was crying.

"Why can't I go mum?" She moaned.

"You're not old enough yet, Ginny. You get to go next year. You can wait that long can't you?"

Harry jumped onto the train. Percy felt sympathy for this girl, who was probably the youngest in her family. He went over to her and brought out Riptide.

"Hey," he said softly, "Don't cry. How about I write a letter to you every week, so you can know what it is like?"

Ginny stopped crying, "You would do that for me? Thank you!" She lunged forwards and wrapped him in a massive hug, which shocked him momentarily. When she pulled away, they both were a violent shade of red.

Percy looked down at Anaklusmos and wished that it could turn into a pen. When he popped the lid off, no sword appeared but the tip of a ball-point pen.

After being allowed by Molly, he quickly scribbled down his would be address.

 **Perseus Potter**

 **Hogwarts**

 **First Year**

The train started to roll out of the station and Percy nimbly hopped into the carriages after saying a quick goodbye. As he disappeared into the compartments, he could see Ginny's gobsmacked face vanish into the distance.

* * *

Percy found Harry settling down in a cabin on his own near the back of the train. He knocked on the glass window and sat down next to him.

"I thought I'd left you back at the station!" Harry exclaimed in relief. Percy grinned.

"I would find a way on, even if you had abandoned me!" he replied.

They spent a while looking at the ever-changing surroundings. At one point, they were looking at the outskirts of a town, then they were on a mountainside.

After a while, they received a visitor. Two visitors, actually. The twins, Fred and George Weasley.

"Hello!" they both said at the same time.

Percy pointed at the one on the left, "Don't tell me…You're George and he's Fred."

The twins stared at him in wonder, "No one ever gets that right on their first go!"

"Guess I'm just awesome, huh?" Percy grinned.

"I like him," Fred said to George, "You're Percy, right?"

"Yep," Percy proclaimed, popping the 'p', "And this here is Harry."

"No flipping way," the twins said once they had looked at Harry, "Harry Potter,"

They brushed his hair out of the way, so that they could see his scar. They got unbelievably giddy when they saw the famous feature.

"Nobody's gonna believe us!" Fred squealed. Percy quickly covered their mouths.

"Oi! Be quiet! We don't want any dogs to die!" he playfully scolded. Fred and George grinned and ran out of the compartment.

"See you later Harry! Hope you're in Gryffindor!"

And just like that, they were gone.

"They were cool!" Percy said, watching them rush down the train.

Harry had to agree that they had quite an entertaining personality.

"I'm off to the loos," Percy pronounced, "See you in a bit."

Harry, having a bit of alone time, started inspecting his wand. His musings were interrupted when three boys rudely sat down opposite him.

Looking up, he could see the snobby, blonde kid he had had the _pleasure_ to meet in Diagon Alley. He had the same stuck up expression that he remembered him to have. Next to him were two Dudley-sized blokes. They had ugly faces and a disgusting odour.

"I heard that Harry Potter was on this side of the train," blondie said, a sneer on his face, "So it's true. The boy-who-lived is going to Hogwarts."

The boars on either side of him laughed. They were obviously this cocky kid's lackeys.

"These are my boys, Crabbe and Goyle," he drawled, "I came down to make sure you made the right friends."

'Anybody but you would be the right friend,' Harry thought, though he didn't dare voice his opinions.

Fortunately, Percy had finished doing his business, and had chosen to come back at the right time.

When he noticed who was accompanying Harry in the cabin, he groaned loudly.

"Fuuuucckkk! What are you doing here Blondie?" he moaned. The mentioned boy stood up and looked at him with contempt.

"You again? When will you learn to respect your betters, you insolent brat?" he snarled.

"I'll do so when I see one then," Percy countered while he glared at the boy. He instantly flinched.

"Come on Crabbe, Goyle," he muttered, "We have got better things to do than be around filth like _him_ ," he mentioned Percy as if he were Ebola. They went passed Percy, throwing him looks of disgust. As Blondie went by, Percy quickly grabbed his pants and yanked them up hard.

Blondie howled. He ran away from the Potters as fast as he could.

"You have brought the wrath of the Malfoys onto you!" he cried.

"Oh no! The Malfoys! Not the Malfoys! I'm so scared!" he taunted, as the idiots left the carriage.

"Utter wankers!" he exclaimed once they were gone, "Stay away from them, Harry. They are nothing but fools."

"Duly noted," Harry responded, as they settled down once more. Unfortunately, they couldn't get any more than a moment of peace.

There was a rather loud knock on the cabin door. Harry got up and answered it, opening the door to reveal another Weasley child.

"You're Ron, aren't you?" Harry asked, as the lanky kid sat down next to Percy.

"Yeah," he said, somehow making it sound very clumsy, "I was told that Harry Potter was in this part of the train?"

"Yeah," Harry said, lifting his fringe to show his scar for the second time that day. Ron gawped at it as if it wasn't real.

"So it is true!" he said, "I thought that they were joking when the twins told me. I can't believe I'm sitting next to Harry Potter!"

He seemed to come off his high and noticed Percy for the first time, "You were the bloke who nearly killed my sister in London, weren't you?"

"I didn't mean to!" Percy exclaimed defensively, "It was an accident!"

"We know that! You nearly killed yourself too!"

Suddenly, conversation was stopped by a woman's voice which rang through the train.

"Anything from the sweets trolley!"

"Yes please!" Ron's eyes lit up. He quickly rummaged around in his pockets, but unfortunately could not find anything.

"Never mind," he sulked, melting into the chair. Harry and Percy looked at him with sympathy. When the trolley rolled past the door, Harry got up. As well as being nice to Ron, he was also quite hungry.

"We'll have five of everything," he announced, Percy pushed him back into his seat.

"Ignore him," he said, "We'll take the lot!"

* * *

Harry was expecting Mars Bars or Snickers or Skittles or other sweets of the like. Some of the things they had got didn't even look edible!

He went to grab a pack of what looked like normal Jelly Beans while Ron and Percy chowed down on some gummy snakes that were at least two feet long.

He had a look at the box.

"Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Jelly Beans?" he asked in wonder.

"Oh yeah," Ron said, with a half chewed snake head in his mouth, "Those are great fun. When they mean every flavour, they actually mean it. You can get some really rank ones."

The trio, true to Ron's word, had plenty of laughs with the sweets. Harry got some nice ones like toast, pop tart and chocolate pudding, but also got some ones that he would never like to have again.

"Bleurgh!" he said as he swallowed a nasty green coloured one, "Grassy mud pie!"

Percy got the extreme ones. He was either very lucky or very unlucky. His first one was strawberry iced doughnut with custard. His second one was dog shit.

Harry picked up another boxed confectionary. They were called chocolate frogs.

"Those are good," Ron said, "Don't let them get away though. They have cards with famous magicians on them. I've only got a few left, but there's hundreds to get."

Harry opened the box and low and behold, a chocolate frog burst out and leaped onto the window. It seemed to wave goodbye, and then it jumped away into the long grass outside the train.

"Oh, that's a shame," Ron said, eyeing some other sweets, "They only have one good jump in them. Whose card did you get?"

Harry pulled out a hexagonal shaped card from the box. On one side was a small biography of the wizard, and on the other side was a picture and a name. The picture showed an old looking man with half-moon spectacles and a long silver beard. He wore a long robe that flowed out of the picture.

"I've got Headmaster Dumbledore!" he exclaimed, Ron leaned over to look.

"Not to make you feel bad, but I've got at least seven of him. Mind if I have one?"

"Be my guest," Harry said gesturing to the massive pile of sweets on the small table near the outside window.

When he looked back at the card, he was surprised to see that Dumbledore had disappeared.

"Where's he gone?" Harry yelled.

"Well, you can't expect them to stay around forever, can you?" Ron supplied, not an inch of surprise on his face.

"Yeah, Harry," Percy chastised, "Everyone knows that a holographic picture has better stuff to do than stand around and look pretty all day!"

The time seemed to fly past. Soon they were obviously in the Scottish Highlands. The topic of discussion eventually turned to magic.

"Well," Ron started, "I come from pure-blood family- "

"Like that Malfoy kid," Percy interrupted.

"Well yes and no," he said, clearing everything up perfectly, "You guys know about this blood purity malarkey don't you?"

"I speak for both of us when I say we don't know much. We're pretty new to the wizarding world," Percy said, earning a nod from Harry.

"It's pretty stupid, really. There are pure-bloods, like me. There are half-bloods, like you Harry. And there are muggle-borns. Pure-bloods have two wizarding parents. One of a half-blood's parents is a muggle while the other is a wizard or a witch. A muggle-born is a person who parents are both muggles, but they somehow have magical abilities."

"Some pure-blood families like the Malfoys believe in blood-purity. They don't like muggle-borns at all, which is basically because they supported you-know-who in the last wizarding war. Somehow they weren't prosecuted, which sucks balls. The Malfoys are bastards."

"We know," Harry said, "We ran into that Draco kid earlier and in Diagon Alley."

"Was it a good experience?" Ron asked with sarcasm.

"Oh yeah!" Percy said with fake enthusiasm, "Didn't make me want to chuck him into a bin at all!"

They laughed at that. Then they pictured Draco in a bin with a banana peel on his head and laughed some more.

"Well 'cos I'm a pure-blood, everyone expects me to be good at magic, but I only know a few spells that my brothers taught me," he sulked.

"Can you show us?" Percy asked. Ron shrugged and pulled out his wand (which looked like it had been through better days) and a bundle of hair from his pocket.

"This is the family rat, Scabbers," he said, with no pride in his voice, "He's a bit of a disappointment really. He doesn't do much, he usually just eats and sleeps."

He placed Scabbers next to him on the seat, where he started to eat some left over sweets.

He looked briefly at his wand, "Oh, the unicorn hair's poking out. Oh well."

Suddenly, a bushy haired girl with a prideful face and two big front teeth that stuck out like some meerkats.

"Have any of you seen a toad?" she asked pompously, "Neville has lost it, and won't stop crying about it."

She noticed Ron holding his wand, about to do a spell, "Oh, are you going to do some magic? Let's see then."

Ron cleared his throat:

 _"_ _Sunshine, Daisies, Butter Mellow,_

 _Turn this stupid fat rat yellow,"_

A small, pathetic spark hit the rat. Predictably, there were no changes to Scabbers' complexion, and he stayed a dirty brown colour.

"That wasn't very good, was it," the girl said bluntly, "I've been studying all Summer, and I don't think that that was an actual spell. No one from my family has magical blood so it was such a surprise when I got my letter. Of course, mother and father were very proud of me. I have learnt all books off by heart."

Harry could hear Ron cursing Fred and George under his breath.

"I've done a few spells myself, and they've all turned out all right," she bragged, she turned to Harry and raised her wand.

"For example," she said clearly, " _Oculus reparo_."

A blue spark zipped from her wand to Harry's glasses. Suddenly, the glass wasn't as fogged up as before and the frame was sturdier and straighter.

She looked at Harry a little closer and gasped, "Holy cricket! You're Harry Potter!"

She stared at his scar for a minute, "I'm Hermione Granger." She shook Harry's hand quite forcibly. She turned to his brother.

"Hi, I'm Percy," he said warmly as she shook his hand too. As their hands touched, Percy felt a jolt go through his body, much like when he first came in contact with Ron's little sister at the platform, but on a smaller scale, like he'd touched a battery instead of a plug outlet.

She turned to Ron, whose mouth was stuffed with chocolate frog which had managed to make its mark all over his hands, one of which he raised for a greeting.

"Who might you be?" Hermione asked with a tone of repulsion.

"Ron Weasley," he said, but it came out as 'Won Weethrey'

"Pleasure," she muttered in disgust, "Right, I must get back to looking for Trevor the Toad."

"Have you checked the women's toilets?" Percy suggested, "Toads like dark, damp places and he wasn't in the men's when I last went."

Hermione's lit up with realisation, "Thank you. I'll go look there now!"

And she was gone.

Then, she was back.

"I recommend that you get changed into your robes now," she said with her head poking around the corner, "We're about ten minutes away from Hogsmeade."

Then she disappeared again.

* * *

Ron and Harry got changed first. Whilst Harry's robes were brand new, pressed, neat and without any creases, Ron's was old and faded, as if it had been used for decades.

When Percy came out of the toilets, Harry got a first look at his customised uniform.

His robes had a gold trim around the outside, making it seem a little bit brighter and less 'Nico' as Percy had put it. His jumper underneath also had a gold trim and was a dark red instead of black.

Ron whistled in amazement, "Looking good, Perce! Won't you get bollocked for it though? It's not exactly the school uniform."

Percy grinned, "I have a feeling that I will get away with it. Besides, it isn't not the school uniform either, it's just a bit modified."

He sat down and conversation flared up again. After a few minutes, the round faced boy that Harry had seen at the station was at the door.

"Hermione told me that one of you guys found out where he was and I would just like to thank yo-"

The toad in his hands had jumped free and was leaping down the train. He was followed by a rushing boy yelling "Trevor! Trevor! Come back!"

Soon the train started slowing down. It eventually stopped at another station similar to platform nine and three quarters. It was dark now and night had fallen, so the paths that many children were streaming their way down were lit by lanterns.

The boys stuffed as many of the left over sweets as they could into the pockets of their robes. Harry led the way, and Percy offered his hand to Ron so he could get up; he had been looking for a chocolate frog that had escaped from his grasp.

As they clasped forearms, Percy felt another shock go through his body, similar to when he had shaken hands with Hermione. He suddenly felt very agitated as they left the carriage.

* * *

The platform was flooded was first years and other students from the school. As they jumped off the train, they could see a town, most likely Hogsmeade, in their peripheral vision.

"Firs' years!" came a familiar booming voice, "Firs' years over 'ere!"

"Hagrid!" the boys called. The giant saw them in the milling crowd.

"Hello boys!" he shouted, "See yeh made it! Is this all the firs' years? Alright, follow me!"

Hagrid set off down a sloped pathway that lead through some trees and towards a cliff. A crowd of about 150 kids around the Potter children's ages.

As they were nearing the cliff, the path curved around and went down to a small jetty where 40 or so many small boats were floating on the edge of a massive lake.

As they got closer, Hagrid yelled out, "Tha's the Black Lake. Right. Four to a boat, no more. Try not ter fall in."

Harry and Percy got into one of the first boats. They were joined by Neville, the one who kept losing his toad, and Hermione, who kept spurting out random facts she'd learnt from the books. This frustrated Harry because it made him feel as if he wasn't prepared for school and it frustrated Percy because he knew them all.

"Everybody in?" the giant boomed, "Right then – FORWARD!"

The fleet of boats began to glide through the water and away from land. Percy skimmed his hand across the water and felt the familiar, soothing cool liquid seep through his fingers. He calmed him and stopped the urges he was having to punch Hermione's teeth straight.

Neville was crying again, as he had lost Trevor again and could not find him.

Again.

Harry was marvelling at the beauty of the lake. He was mesmerized by the moonlight reflecting off of the waves. Despite this, there was a tiny little conscious at the back of his mind that was telling him to stay away from the water as it was his enemy's territory.

But Harry was too entranced to listen to that irrelevant little sound.

Percy felt perfectly at home on the lake, he felt relaxed. He rocked with the swaying of the boat.

But with Perseus Potter, shit doesn't stay that way for long.

As he looked into the dark waters, he saw a little fish.

"Hello, my lord," the fish greeted happily.

"Yeah, no," Percy said, shaking his head violently, "No. Nope Nope Nope Nope."

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"Fishy is talking to me. Can you hear him?" Percy said.

"Only you can hear me, my lord," the fish said. Percy's mind was blown. Not like it wasn't already fucked up enough.

"I can't hear him Perce," Harry replied.

"Alright then," Percy said, "Does anyone have a jar?"

Surprisingly, Hermione pulled out a jar from her bag, passed it to him, then carried on ranting about the history of the school.

Percy dipped the jar into the water and filled it up.

"Hey there, Mr. Fish," he said tentatively, "Do you have a family? If you do, bring them up and tell them to swim into here."

The fish must have understood him, as it swam down and emerged from the deep with ten fish that looked nearly identical to it. They all swam into the jar which somehow managed to fit them all with plenty of room to swim around in.

"It seems that I've got a mutual relationship with aquatic animals!" he said laughing.

Hermione and Neville looked at him strangely.

"What?" they asked in unison.

"I like fish," Percy deadpanned, "Fish like me. Kapeesh?"

"Watch yer 'eads!" Hagrid bellowed from the front boat. The swarm of boats passed under a massive willow tree, which bent down over the lake.

"Yeh'll get yeh firs' look of 'Ogwarts in a sec," he shouted so that everyone could hear.

As they turned a corner, the first year students burst into gasps of wonder and awe. On top of a cliff that overlooked the entire lake stood a timeless castle. It had hundreds of windows, out of which light flooded out into the cool night. Towers stretched up into the sky and touched the clouds. Thousands of lanterns twinkled from around the grounds of the school.

The children spent five minutes gawping at the majesty of the school while Hermione started rambling on and on about the architecture of the castle, which gave Percy another one of his weird migraines. Something about what Hermione was doing reminded him of a girl with striking grey eyes and blonde princess-curly hair.

They were steered into a tunnel that dug under the castle. As they slowed down, they approached a stone underground harbour, with a staircase that undoubtedly led up to the school.

Hagrid scrambled out of his boat and started to help some people with getting back onto dry land. Once everyone had been counted, and it was clear that no one had fallen into the lake and got left behind, the first years followed their giant chaperone upstairs, where they emerged in front of some huge doors.

Hagrid passed his lantern to a pair of Asian girls, who struggled to carry the massive thing between them both, and made three loud knocks on the door.

It swung open immediately, which was quite impressive for a door of its size, and revealed a woman who was waiting for them. She was wearing a green cloak and a pointed black hat. She wore glasses over her grey eyes, which swept over everyone before landing on Hagrid, who had taken his lamp back from the girls.

"'Ere yeh are Professor McGonagall. The firs' years," he announced.

"Thank you Hagrid," she said with a clipped voice, "I will take them from here. Follow me children."

She led on a very complex trail: up some stairs, turn left, down the corridor, down the stairs etc.

She stopped them in front of a pair of doors. Behind them, a lot of noise could be heard, like many people were talking and celebrating.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. I am Professor McGonagall, the deputy headmistress and your head of house should any of you be in Gryffindor. The Start-of-Term banquet will begin shortly, but before this, you will all be sorted in your houses. For those of you who do not know, the four houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin."

At this point, Draco Malfoy and his bitches cheered, before being silenced by a glare from the professor.

"The sorting is a very important ceremony as your house will be your surrogate family whilst you attend the school. You will have classes with those who are put in the same house as you and you will sleep and relax in the house dormitories and common rooms. Every house has its notable history and has produced outstanding witches and wizards."

"TREVOR!" came a giddy yell from Neville who ran forward and scooped up his toad from Professor McGonagall's feet. Everyone laughed. Neville looked up at the face of the teacher, whose face showed minor amusement. He shrank back into the crowd under her gaze.

"At the end of the year, we award the house cup, which is a great honour," she continued, "The winner of this award is determined by the house which has the most house points. You will earn points for your triumphs and will lose points for any troublemaking. I hope each and every one of you will contribute to your house's efforts."

"The sorting ceremony will begin in a moment in front of the rest of the school. Please spend this time before the ceremony to smarten yourselves up." At this point, her eyes lingered over Ron's dirt-clad nose, Neville's cloak, which had managed to hook itself over his ear, and Percy's messy hair, "I will return for you when we are ready. Please wait quietly."

With that said, she left the chamber. Harry, much like the majority of the students, was silent and nervous. The only exceptions to this were Hermione Granger, who was listing off every spell from the top of her head and thinking about which ones she might need, and Percy, who was looking at the arches that supported the roof.

"How exactly do we get tested?" Harry asked Ron, who was standing next to him, as nervous as ever.

"I'm not quite sure," he stuttered, "Fred and George told me it was like a test. They said it hurt a lot but I think he was joking."

Harry's mouth went bone dry. He had very limited magical knowledge. How on earth would he pass this test? He would embarrass himself in front of the entire school!

Screams from the back of the group jerked him out of his pessimistic reverie. Suddenly, dozens of ghosts with transparent forms streamed through a wall, laughing and being merry. One of them rode a horse and charge through the children and out of sight, passing through the opposite wall.

A small group of ghosts at the back seemed to be arguing.

"Forgive and forget, Nick, that's what I think," said a small, plump monk.

"My dear friar," replied a man wearing a ruff and tights, "We have been forgiving him for years now, and Peeves hasn't changed. He isn't even really a ghost and he has been disgracing us – I say what are you doing here?"

Everyone stared him in disbelief. No one said anything.

"New students!" the friar cheered, "I hope to see you in Hufflepuff. That's my house, you know!"

A few people nodded stiffly as the ghosts drifted down the corridor.

"Hello again, Potter," came the sickly, unwanted voice of Draco Malfoy, "I've decided to give you one last chance to make some real friends, instead of people like Weasel-bee here."

Ron scowled at the awful nickname he had been given.

"No thank you, Malfoy," he replied, as smoothly as he could, "I think that I can choose who I'm friends with or not."

It was Malfoy's turn to scowl now, but before he could do anything, he was cut off by Percy.

"Fuck off Malfoy, we don't want your filth around us!"

"You have made an enemy out of me today!" Draco growled.

"Is that supposed to be intimidating?" Percy responded, grinning.

"How dare you!"

"This way!" came the sharp voice of Professor McGonagall, "The sorting is about to begin!"

She opened the doors to the great halls, and the light from inside flooded into the chamber, temporarily blinding the students as they walked towards the start of their Hogwarts career.

* * *

 _ **What's this? NAYT updating in less than 3 months? What is this sorcery? (Get it!)**_

 _ **I honestly actually just suddenly found inspiration to do it, and finished it in three days, which I'm quite proud of.**_

 _ **I'm a little down because last chapter didn't get as much audience as I wanted it to. Seriously, just drop a review, it means a lot more than you can imagine. (Cheers by the way, JAF (::) cookies!)**_

 _ **Constructive criticism**_

 _ **Remember:**_

 _Favourites + Follows + Reviews = More Motivation = MORE CHAPTERS!_ _**(So do it, K?)**_

 _ **See you next time, bros!**_

 _ **NAYT signing off.**_


	6. The Sorting Hat

**NAYT owns nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Hang on a second…Is that? Nope, still nothing.**

* * *

The children gasped in awe as they entered the Great Hall. Four long tables stretched along the length of the hall, and each table had students from each of the houses. The students sat on benches that complimented the tables.

At the end of the room (if one could possibly call it such), in a row, sat some much older people. These were, no mistake, the teachers of Hogwarts. Hagrid sat at the end, beaming at Harry and Percy.

The walls arched up to form the roof, which didn't seem to exist. They could see the sky, the stars and the moon along with the inky darkness of space.

"The roof is enchanted so that is shows a real time image of the sky outside," Hermione said, staring at the roof as if she was looking for any flaws in the magic, "I read that in _'Hogwarts: A History'_."

No one was really listening to her as everyone was amazed by the simplistic majesty of the Great Hall. It was hard to believe that there was a roof there at all with the beauty of the sky, and that the hall didn't just open up to the heavens, which would make dinner pretty shit if it started raining.

Suspended underneath the magical ceiling, candles were floating above the tables, shining their light upon the students below.

"How does that not create any problems?" Percy whispered to Harry, "Surely the wax would fall down and burn everyone."

"Magic?" Harry replied weakly, as the group, led by Professor McGonagall, who had made her way to the front with the other teachers, came to a stop at the end of the hall in front of a large lectern and a four-legged wooden stool.

McGonagall placed an old hat on top of the stool. It was frayed and patched up and had a few holes in it too. Not to mention that it was smothered in an unhealthy coat of dirt and dust.

Was that the test? Did they have to fight a manky hat? Perhaps they had to pull rabbits out of it, and the attitude of the creature determined your house? The brothers' minds ran rampant with all of the things a stereotypical street magician would do with a hat.

Harry realised that the noise of the students had disappeared. Turning around, he saw that all of the pupils were staring at the hat. Harry copied this action.

For a few moments, nothing happened, and Harry felt like a fool for looking at a disgusting hat so intensely. Then suddenly a rip near the brim of the hat opened, similar to a mouth. The hat began to sing loudly (making Percy jump like a kangaroo being bitten by a tarantula):

 _"Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

 _But don't judge on what you see,_

 _I'll eat myself if you can find_

 _A smarter hat than me._

 _You can keep you bowlers black,_

 _And top hats sleek and tall,_

 _For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

 _And I can cap them all._

 _There's nothing hidden in your head_

 _The Sorting Hat can't see,_

 _So try me on and I'll tell you_

 _Where you ought to be._

 _You might belong in Gryffindor,_

 _Where dwell the brave at heart,_

 _Their daring, nerve and chivalry_

 _Set Gryffindors apart;_

 _You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

 _Where they are just and loyal,_

 _Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

 _And unafraid of toil;_

 _Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

 _If you've a ready mind,_

 _Where those of wit and learning_

 _Will always find their kind;_

 _Or perhaps in Slytherin,_

 _You'll make your real friends,_

 _Those cunning folk use any means_

 _To achieve their ends._

 _So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

 _And don't get in a flap!_

 _You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

 _For I'm a thinking cap!"_

The entire hall burst into applause because there's nothing better than a singing hat singing a song about itself. Though it did seem that there was a hidden message in that song. The hat bowed to each of the tables and then became a normal hat again.

"I'll kill the twins," Ron whispered to the brothers, "They were going on and on about wrestling a troll."

Harry and Percy agreed that, yes, putting on a hat was much better than a test. However, doing so in front of the entire school made Harry quite nervous. He wasn't feeling brave or smart or cunning or any of the other attributes. If there was a house for queasy little buggers Harry would probably be in it.

As for Percy, well, who knows how Percy is feeling.

Professor McGonagall was once again standing in front of them, this time holding a long roll of parchment.

"When I call your name," she announced, "you will come forward and put on the hat and sit on the stool so that you can be sorted."

She unrolled the scroll and read the first name, "Abbot, Hannah."

A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails hesitantly walked out of the line and up to the stool. When she put on the hat, it fell straight over her eyes. There was a moment's silence.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat screamed. The table on the far right cheered as she stumbled over. Harry could see the Fat Friar waving merrily at her.

"Bones, Susan."

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat repeated. Susan seemed to be quite relieved as she sat down next to Hannah, who she seemed to be good friends with.

"Boot, Terry."

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second from the left clapped this time, and invited Terry to sit with them; many of the older Ravenclaws shook his hand as he sat down.

"Brocklehurst, Mandy" also was a Ravenclaw, but "Brown, Lavender", a girl with pretty big assets, became the first Gryffindor, and the far left table erupted with cheers and applause. Harry could see the Weasley twins fox-whistling and cat-calling.

Perhaps it was Harry's imagination, but when "Bulstrode, Millicent" (an ugly name for an ugly girl) became the first new Slytherin, he noticed that the entire house didn't look all that pleasant. He was definitely feeling sick now. It was like when he was back at the comprehensive near the Dursley residence where no one wanted Harry on their team during PE. It wasn't because he wasn't good at the sport, alas, it was because no one wanted Dudley to think that they liked him.

Harry noticed that the time it took for the hat to sort someone varied. For example, it took a matter of seconds for the hat to put "Finch-Fletchley, Justin" in Hufflepuff, but with a very excited sandy-haired boy named "Finnigan, Seamus", he was sitting on the seat for nearly an entire minute before the hat yelled "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Granger, Hermione."

Ron grimaced as Hermione nearly sprinted to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly onto her head.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Ron groaned, "I know that I'm gonna be in Gryffindor. My whole family has been."

Harry shuddered as a horrible thought, as the conceited little bitches always do, graced his mind. What if the hat said nothing for him? What if he just sat there and the hat said nothing. What if Professor McGonagall took the hat from him and told him there had been some horrid mistake and told him to get back on the Hogwarts Express. What if-

"Harry. Breathe," Percy said, putting a hand on his shoulder, "You'll be fine, don't worry."

One by one the rest of the new students were called out and placed into their respective houses. Neville Longbottom, also known as the Toad Bloke by Percy, was so giddy when he was placed into Gryffindor that he ran off still wearing the hat. The whole school burst into laughter as he jogged back, embarrassed, and dropped the hat in front of McGonagall so that she could let "MacDougal, Morag" get sorted.

Malfoy swaggered forward when his name was called, missing the brief look of disgust that McGonagall showed before she passed him the sorting hat.

It had barely touched his greasy head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

As the maggot strutted off towards the nasty table, he made sure to pass the brothers so that he could give them smug looks. He embraced the Slytherin applause with his hands up as if he was famous. It made Percy want to vomit. He used his water powers to draw some water from the lake (which was a bitch to his energy levels) and used it drive a rock into his skinny legs.

He fell flat on his face. Everyone but the majority of the Slytherin table laughed at the big-headed pig's misfortune. Malfoy swivelled his head around to look for anyone who may have tripped him up, but there was no one close enough. He stormed off, red-faced, and sat himself down next to his two goons Crabbe and Goyle.

There were limited people left. "Moon" went to Hufflepuff, and "Nott" and "Parkinson" joined Malfoy.

Harry became worried that he might be split up from his brother when "Patil, Padma" went to Ravenclaw while her identical twin sister "Patil, Parvati" sat opposite Hermione at the Gryffindor table.

It was only a matter of time now. Soon, Professor McGonagall was going to read his name and he would have to put on the dreaded sorting hat. Doubts and horrid endings danced through his head as he became more and more-

"Potter, Harry,"

The hall went deathly silent. One could hear a pin drop. If one had toned hearing, they could hear a fly shitting on the back wall. After a few moments, murmurs and whispers broke out like wild fire across the school.

"Did she just say Potter?"

" _The_ Harry Potter?"

" _The boy-who-lived_ is at Hogwarts?"

Harry's legs dragged him to the stool, as if they were on automatic mode. The last thing he could see before the hat plopped itself over his eyes was a hall full of people craning their necks and looking over and around fellow students to get a good look at him.

Then all that he saw was the blackness of the hat. He waited. He waited.

"Hmm, what do we have here?" said a small voice in his ear. Harry resisted the urge to whip his head around and look for somebody behind him.

"Difficult. _Very_ difficult. Lots of courage here, and not too dopey either. Got a substantial amount of talent…Oh, my goodness, a thirst to prove yourself. Interesting. Where shall I put you…"

Harry gripped the edge of the stool so hard that his knuckles turned white and he got splinters underneath his finger nails. ' _Not Slytherin. Anything but Slytherin!_ ' he mentally begged.

"Not Slytherin, you say?" the small voice whispered, "Are you sure?"

"Don't put him in Slytherin mate," Percy's telepathic voice echoed through his mind, "He'd probably go insane."

"You would be great. It's all in here, and Slytherin would help you on your way to greatness, no doubt about that."

" _Not Slytherin!"_ the brothers chanted mentally.

"No? Well - if you and your friend insist - I suppose; you better be in…GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat was released from his head and he walked shakily over to the table on the left, where he was greeted by a tidal wave of cheers and applause. He could see George and Fred embracing each other and yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!"

Harry was so relieved that he wasn't in the same house as that slime-bag Malfoy, that he didn't really acknowledge that he was getting the loudest cheer out of all of the new entrants yet. He gave a weak grin to Percy as he stumbled past, who returned it with great vigour.

Another one of the Weasley siblings, a little bit older than the twins, rose and shook his hand so hard that he thought he was going to rip it off. Apparently, this one was called Percival, Percy for short. Harry decided that he was going to save himself the confusion and call him by his full name, if he had to mention him at all.

Once everyone had finished throttling his arm, he sat down near the ghost with the ruff that he had seen earlier. He tried to pat Harry on the arm, but being a ghost, he couldn't touch him, so his arm hand passed through Harry's arm, which felt like he'd just stuck his hand into a bucket of iced water.

He could see past the lectern now, and could fully see the high table, whereas before his vision of it had been restricted. At the end nearest him, Hagrid sat, now much more obviously, towering over the rest of the staff. They locked eyes momentarily and the giant gave him two thumbs up. Harry grinned at the rather childish-looking gesture performed by the big man.

In the middle of the high table, next to the one absent chair (which was McGonagall's), in a golden chair, sat Albus Dumbledore in all of his glory. Harry recognised the Headmaster by the picture he had seen of him when he had his first golden frog back on the Hogwarts Express. His lengthy silver beard, which was his most noticeable feature, shone nearly as brightly as the ghosts.

Nearby him, sat the soon-to-be Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quirrell, the barmy dude with the stutter he had met in the Leaky Cauldron. He looked out of place with his abnormally large purple turban.

Now there were only five people left to be sorted. "Thomas, Dean", a coloured boy even taller than Ron, sat down next to Harry at the Gryffindor table. "Turpin, Lisa" became a Ravenclaw and then it was Ron's turn.

The said boy had turned a sickly green. Harry crossed his fingers under the table, hoping that he would get put with him.

When the sorting hat yelled "GRYFFINDOR!", Harry clapped as loudly as the rest. Ron let out a huge sigh and collapsed into the seat adjacent to Harry.

"Thank goodness," he said, "If I'd have been put in Slytherin, I think I would have disowned myself."

"Well done, Ron! Excellent," Percy Weasley said pompously from across the table, as "Zabini, Blaise" was sorted into Slytherin. Professor McGonagall rolled up her scroll at sat down again at the high table.

It was at this point that Harry realised that a second Potter had not been called out. Looking across, he saw Percy looking rather disappointed where everyone else had been collected merely minutes ago.

None of the teachers seemed to notice this. Professor Dumbledore had gotten to his feet and was standing at the lectern, with his arms out wide, as if he were trying to embrace the entire school.

"Welcome to another school year at Hogwarts. Before we begin our banquet, there are a few- oh, hello there,"

He seemed to have noticed Percy now, who was standing alone, twiddling his thumbs. He gave a rather agitated wave in greeting.

"What are you doing there?" he asked in a grandfatherly tone, "Shouldn't you be sitting at your house table?"

It probably wasn't a very smart thing to be sassy towards the headmaster of a prestigious school but Percy's reply was, "Well, that would be great if I was in a house and had a table to sit at."

Harry heard a sharp intake of breath from Percival, who was shaking his head.

"Were you not on the list read out?" Dumbledore asked, without any sign of insult.

"No, I should be," Percy replied nonchalantly, "But there's a good reason why I'm not. Hagrid sent you an owl saying I was coming, did he not."

Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly, "Ah, yes. I did not believe it at first. Can you come closer please?"

* * *

Percy had got used to knowing that he wasn't really supposed to exist. Being homeless does that to people. These model citizens who give to charity and volunteer at libraries which are in decline or whatever pass them by and ignore them or try not to look at them directly in the eye or, in most situations, they give them the stink-eye. Then there was _that_ event in his early life…

Percy knew what it felt like to be a rejection of society. So when he was left hanging on his own in the middle of the hall, he wasn't upset. It was more awkward than upsetting in reality.

As he walked up a few steps towards the headmaster, he subtly showed him his scar momentarily, as he knew that that was what he wanted to see.

"Perseus," Dumbledore whispered to him under the guise of having a brief chat about why his name was not on the entrants' list, "How are you alive? Everyone thought you to be dead for over ten years,"

"I'm sad to say that I cannot answer that, sir, for I have been asking myself the same question for most of my life. Especially when I nearly got killed by a bus…"

Dumbledore stood up straight, obviously not annoyed at the boy, but also not satisfied for the information that he had received, "I suppose I can allow you enrol here. Professor McGonagall?"

The grey-haired woman came forwards, confused, and opened the scroll.

"Just put your name there at the bottom," Dumbledore said, "We can make it more official after the banquet is over. Do you have any writing apparatus on you?"

Percy's hand shot to Riptide, which was residing in his cloak pocket, out of instinct, "Yeah, I got one,"

He pulled Anaklusmos out of his pocket and pressed the button on the back end of the pen. Just like when he was with Ginny Weasley, a small pen nib popped out of the top. Using his knee as a surface, he scribbled his name onto the bottom of the list, then put it back into his pocket, where the nib retracted into the pen.

When he stood back, he noticed that the entire school was looking at him with interest, like he was an amusing monkey in a zoo.

Professor McGonagall, much like when she'd read the others' names out, held the scroll taut. When her eyes scrolled over his name, they bugged out. She stared at him as if to say, "You serious?".

"P-Potter, Perseus,"

Everybody burst into uproar. There were various snippets of yells and shouts that Percy caught, mainly stuff like, "Impossible!"; "He died!"; "Harry Potter has a brother?"

Dumbledore rose his wand to his mouth, muttered something, and spoke with an amplified voice that spread over the entire hall, "SILENCE!"

The noise came to a dead stop.

"This is indeed Perseus Potter. How he is here being unknown, even to himself. He will be sorted like everyone else in this hall has."

He nodded to Percy, who got the message and sat down on the stool. Professor McGonagall dropped the sorting hat onto his head.

After a moment's silence, the small voice of the sorting hat started whispering into his ear, similar to what Harry experienced.

"So, you were the one who help to persuade me to place your brother into Gryffindor, hmm?"

"Anything but Slytherin, right?" he replied mentally.

"Let's have a look see…Ah. I seem to not be able to get in. Could you lower any occlumency shields you may have?"

"They're not occlumency shields," Percy said out loud, shocking his audience, "More like a…state of mind, if you please. I'll let you pass if I can."

Eventually, the hat managed to squirm its way into Percy's mind and began to look through his personalities and traits.

It seemed to have a hard time deciding. The voice quietened into incomprehensible murmurs for a few minutes.

Outside of this mental probe, he could hear McGonagall and Dumbledore talking:

"Nobody has ever lasted this long before, Headmaster,"

"Patience, Minerva. He is simply giving the sorting hat a long awaited challenge!"

Finally, the hat spoke up again inside of his head, "You've made me come to a conclusion that I've never had to come to in all of my hundred years of work. I have determined that your house is…UNDECIDED!"

Protests once again graced the hall, and like before, they were quickly silenced by Dumbledore.

"Never has this once happened. Perseus has shown equal qualities of all four houses, and deserves to be in them all. However, he can only be in one. Perseus shall choose which house he shall be in."

Collective gasps were heard from around the school. Percy started to look interpretively at all of the tables, every house hoping that they would get a Potter amongst their ranks.

"I've lowered it down to three," he announced, giving Malfoy a meaningful glance. Draco glared at him with detest.

He was stuck between choosing Ravenclaw or Gryffindor; both seemed to be the right choice. Then he remembered one key factor, and finalised his decision.

"I will be in GRYFFINDOR!" he pronounced, grinning. The entirety of the said house was jumping about in glee for having both of the Potter brothers. Harry smirked at his brother as he sauntered over to the far left table.

"Can't leave my bro alone, can I?" he said cheekily. He squeezed himself in between Ron and Harry. Ron couldn't believe that he had been bantering with not only one but both Potter children, one who had been long assumed dead.

"Now that that little episode of drama is over, and the sorting for this year is complete," Dumbledore said, "I give you a few words before you can eat your heart's desire: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

"Is he off his rocker or what?" Percy asked Percival.

"No, he's not," he replied airily, "He's a bit strange, but mad? No. Potatoes?"

Harry's jaw dropped. Huge quantities of food had graced the table. Harry had never had so many of his favourite foods on one (albeit humongous) table before. He could see roast beef, roast chicken, lamb and pork chops, beef wellington, along with some of the best looking vegetables, and potato chips. Further down the table he saw a large hog roast in front of a black boy that was showing off his pet tarantula at Platform 9¾.

There was also a large bowl of peppermints. For some reason.

Harry had never been starved, but he had been given limited amounts. He never got seconds, because Dudley tended to eat his seconds for his thirds, so now, graced with all of the luxurious produce, Harry piled bits of everything except from the mints onto his plate.

Percy had had the same idea. He had a tower of food that blocked him from sight, and was holding a large leg from the hog in one hand whilst steadying his tower with the other.

The boys ate on and on, seizing on the opportunity to eat as much food as they would like. Whenever a bowl ran out of food, it would replenish itself by magic.

As they stuffed themselves like turkeys at Christmas, the ghost that was lingering around the table looked wistfully at the food.

"That does look good," he said sadly, as Percy tried to fit an entire steak into his mouth.

"Can't you eat?" Harry asked the ghost. He shook his head, which seemed to teeter, as if it was on a hinge.

"No, and I haven't done for nearly four centuries. If I'd have known I was going to pass away that day I would have eaten a banquet beforehand. One does miss it, even if I do not need to eat. Have I introduced myself? I am the Gryffindor ghost, Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, at your service."

"Do _not_ ask me to spell that," Percy said through a piece of ham loin.

"Why not?" Dean asked.

"Dyslexia means I can't spell long words without my mind doing backflips and the letters fly away," Percy replied off-hand, like it wasn't that important.

Meanwhile, Ron had been looking intently at Sir Nick, until he gasped.

"I know you!" he exclaimed, "Charlie told me; you're Nearly Headless Nick!"

" _Nearly_ headless?" Hermione said pompously, "How on earth can you be _nearly_ headless? I am certain that you are either headless or not."

"How am I nearly headless, you say?" Nick said irritably, "Like this,"

He raised his hand to his head and yanked hard on his left ear. Much to the horror of the first years (and absolute giddiness of Percy), his head swung away, attached to his neck by only a string of skin.

"That's a wicked party trick, man!" Percy giggled hysterically. The ghost smiled smugly and flipped his head back into place, adjusting it so that it looked normal again.

"So! New Gryffindors, yes? I hope you can help us take back the house cup again. I think this is the longest time that we've gone without it. Slytherin took it from us six years ago and have kept it since. The Slytherin ghost, the Bloody Baron has been unbearable."

He gestured towards a horrible ghost sitting near the Slytherins, with pale skin (even for a ghost), sunken eyes and silver blood splattered everywhere. He was sitting, to Harry's pleasure, right next to Malfoy, who wasn't looking in the slightest bit comfortable.

"How did he get covered in blood?" Seamus Finnigan asked.

"I've never asked," the ghost replied delicately, as if it were a rather sensitive subject.

Eventually, the crockery was magicked away, leaving happy students with full stomachs. Or so they thought.

Quickly, the savoury food was replaced by sweet items: scoops of ice cream piled on top of the others to create some abstract ice cream sculpture; steaming bowls of everyone's favourite puddings in pools of delicious custard; doughnuts, apple pies, treacle tarts, strawberries and cream…

The feeling of being stuffed to the brim was chucked out of the window as everyone dived into the puddings. Percy felt ice cream around the outside of his mouth, but was too busy inhaling the sugary heaven to do anything about it.

During this course, the discussion turned to family.

"I'm half and half," Seamus said in his Irish accent, as he picked up a jam doughnut, "Me dad's the muggle. Mum didn't tell him who she really was 'til they were married. He was quite shocked to say the least!"

The others laughed.

"What about you, Neville?" Ron asked the round faced boy.

"I believe that my parents were both pure-bloods," he said, reaching down under the table to stop his toad from escaping again, "but I'm not sure. I was raised by my gran, who's a witch, but she and the family thought that there wasn't any magic in me for ages. My Great Uncle Algie kept doing things he thought would force the magic out - I nearly drowned when he shoved me off of the Blackpool pier - but nothing happened for years."

He smiled as he remembered the good part, "He was hanging me out of the window, he was, when his wife offered him some sweets and he accidently let go. They were so happy when I managed to bounce all of the way down the garden; my gran even started crying and bought me my toad, 'cos she thought I wouldn't get into Hogwarts because I wasn't magic enough."

On the other side of the boy, Hermione and Percival were talking about lessons. Already. Harry would've eavesdropped, but he couldn't be arsed to listen to that shit so late at night.

Harry was starting to feel warm and dozy. He looked over to the high table again. Hagrid was drinking insane portions from his goblet, and Professor McGonagall was talking to Professor Dumbledore.

Professor Quirrell had his head turned away, and was talking to another teacher. He had jet black oily hair, a hooked nose and white skin, like a vampire's. He looked past Quirrell's absurd turban and stared straight into Harry's eyes.

A stinging, burning pain shot through the scar on his forehead, "Ow!"

"What's up?" Percy asked, and was answered with a quick, discrete point towards the teacher's table. When Percy locked eyes with the greasy headed teacher, he clapped his hands to his temple.

"Shit!" he cursed. Percival the Prefect seemed to have noticed them now.

"Is something wrong, Percy?" he enquired.

"N-no," came Percy's reply.

"Percival?" Harry asked, now that the pain had subsided.

"Please call me Percy, Harry," Percival responded.

"Wouldn't that cause confusion?" Percy said, indicating himself and the prefect.

"I suppose so. What was your question, Harry?"

"Who is that teacher sitting next to Professor Quirrell?" he asked.

"That's Professor Snape, the potions master. I'm not surprised that Quirrell is shaking; Snape's been after his job for years. He knows a lot about the Dark Arts, Snape does…"

Harry told Percy to keep an eye on Snape for a while, but the teacher never looked in their direction again.

The puddings disappeared quite quickly for everyone had shovelled all that they could down their throats. Neville was so content that he had forgotten to notice that Trevor had made another dash for freedom. Percy belched loudly, rather displeasing Percival, who reminded him that "Everyone should have good manners here, even if you were supposed to be dead."

Percy made a mental note to break the dude's nose when no one was looking, but decided against it because he was a lazy arse who couldn't be bothered to do it and he also happened to be a prefect, so he would probably get expelled.

The hall went silent once more when Dumbledore returned to his post in front of the entire school.

"I have a few Start-of-Term notices to give to you all, now that you are well fed and watered. First years should know that the forest on the ground is forbidden to all students. A certain pair of twins would do well to remember this as well."

His eyes twinkled playfully as he glanced towards the identical Weasley brothers.

"Mr Filch, the caretaker, would like to remind you that there will be no magic in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of term. The exact dates will be given out by your respective house's Quidditch captain."

"Finally, I must tell you that the third-floor corridor is out of bounds for absolutely anyone, unless you would like to die a painful death,"

Harry and Percy thought it was some kind of joke, and were two of the very small number of people who laughed.

"Is he serious?" Harry turned to Percival the Prefect.

"Must be," he muttered, frowning, "It's not like Dumbledore to not allow us to go somewhere without any reason. For example, the Forbidden Forest is heaving with mythical monsters of all kinds, everyone knows that. He should have at least told us prefects at least…"

"I'll probably die a painful death anyway," Percy whispered in his ear, "Whether it be by homework or exams or whatever is on the third floor."

Harry had to stifle his laugh. He remembered Percy telling him over the holidays that whilst he was going to be a try-hard, he didn't like school at all.

"And now, before we rest ourselves up for our first day of learning tomorrow, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Some of the teachers' smiles became painfully forced and one of them even groaned quietly.

Dumbledore brandished his wand, and flicked it. A golden ribbon shot out and whizzed around the tables, snake-like, before twisting itself into some words high above the table.

"Everybody pick their own tune," said Dumbledore, "And off we go!"

The school bellowed some kind of melody:

 ** _"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,_**

 ** _Teach us something please._**

 ** _Whether we be old and bald,_**

 ** _Or young with scabby knees._**

 ** _Our heads could do with filling_**

 ** _With some interesting stuff._**

 ** _For now, they're bare and full of air;_**

 ** _Dead flies and bits of fluff._**

 ** _So teach us things worth knowing,_**

 ** _Bring back what we forgot._**

 ** _Just do your best, we'll do the rest,_**

 ** _And learn until our brains all rot._**

Everybody finished the song at different times, which meant that it sounded rather shit, but there was something about it that didn't make it depressing.

Eventually, the only ones left singing were the Weasley twins and Percy, who sang in a triplet to a slow, funeral march. The headmaster swung his wand and conducted the last few lines, and clapped the loudest out of everyone.

"Music;" he said, wiping a few tears of joy out of his eyes, "A magic beyond all that you will learn here. And now, bedtime! Off you trot, and don't forget to blow out the candles."

Harry was part of the crowd of first years that following Percy the Prefect up a marble staircase that he had not seen before. His legs lagged behind, to the point where he was almost dragging them because of his tiredness. He was so tired that he didn't notice the living portraits, pointing and whispering at him.

Percival led them up more staircases than he thought possible. Suddenly, they came to an abrupt stop.

Up ahead, a bunch of sticks was hovering about ten feet off the ground, "Peeves, a poltergeist," the prefect told them, "Show yourself Peeves!"

A loud, farting sound like a rather crude raspberry answered his demand.

"I'll get the Bloody Baron!" he threatened.

There was a bang, and a small, child-like man with cunning dark eyes and a wide mouth appeared, floating cross-legged in the air, holding the wooden sticks in his arms, letting one drop out onto the children below.

"Ickle-wickle Firsties!" Peeves taunted, "What fun!"

Without warning, he howled in delight and swooped down, causing the crowd to duck to avoid being decapitated.

"Go away, Peeves! The Baron will hear about this, you hear me?" Percival growled.

Peeves stuck his tongue out at him and dropped the sticks like bombs towards Neville's head whilst he zoomed away rattling the hall.

Percy's lightning fast reflexes were the only reason why Neville didn't have several large bumps on the top of his head.

"You want to avoid Peeves if you can," advised the prefect, "He'll only listen to the Bloody Baron, not even us Prefects. Here we are."

The group had come to a stop in front of a portrait of a generously proportioned lady wearing a pink silk dress. It was something she neither pulled off or looked bad in.

"Password?" she said.

"Caput Draconis. You lot remember that, will you?" Percival said, and the portrait swung open to reveal a small circular hole in the wall. Some people needed a bit of a boost (*cough cough* Neville *cough cough*) and the group climbed through.

They found themselves in a cosy common room, fitted with a fireplace which illuminated the round room with a soft red glow and plenty of squashy armchairs. There were two spiral staircases that went up and down the castle. It was not a surprise that they were in one of the sky-high towers.

Percival directed the girls up one of the staircases, and ushered the boys up the other one. However, before Percy could get into the stairs, he was blocked by Professor McGonagall.

"Follow me," she said, "Professor Dumbledore would like to have a word. Mr Weasley, could you be outside the headmaster's office in fifteen minutes to escort him back here."

Percy went off with the Professor after telling Harry that he would see him later, or tomorrow, if he was asleep by the time he got back.

Harry trudged all the way to the top of the tower, where he had been given a room to share with Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville. Everyone's belongings were tucked under the single poster beds that they had been allocated.

"Nice beds, huh," Ron said drowsily, "Scabbers is already eating my sheets. Get off!"

Harry nodded sleepily. As if he had been put on automatic, Harry put on his pyjamas and fell into his bed, vaguely noticing the others doing the same. He passed out as soon as his head touched the pillow.

* * *

Percy was dragged back out of the common room and led through the dark corridors. He managed to lose track of where he was going as he turned and changed altitude so much. Eventually, Professor McGonagall stopped in front of an intricately carved gargoyle.

She muttered something incomprehensible, and the statue started to turn and sink into the ground, revealing another spiral staircase. He followed the deputy head-mistress up these stairs, and down a short corridor. She knocked on the door at the end of the path.

"Professor?" she announced, "Perseus Potter is here to see you."

He heard a muffled response and McGonagall opened the door wide for him. He walked through into the majesty of the office. All around the walls were portraits of important looking people, who happened to be ex-headmasters of the school.

"There you are, Mr Potter."

Percy turned around to see Professor Dumbledore sitting in an armchair. He gestured towards an empty seat, similar to his, which Percy gladly took.

"I do believe that I need to know more about you, since you were considered dead." Dumbledore said softly.

And so Percy told him his story. At least, most of it. A few parts were quite private.

"I see," Dumbledore said, once he had finished his tale, "I suppose this makes you a little different, alongside your Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and dyslexia, which your brother does not seem to have."

"You could say that," Percy agreed, "I'm not exactly clear minded. The sorting hat got shut out by some kind of non-magical barrier earlier. I have an idea what that might be."

They sat there in silence, Dumbledore absorbing all of the information he could about this boy. Most of the time he had at least five years to learn such things from most of the other students.

"I can help with your disabilities," Dumbledore said, as he drew wand and summoned a pair of gold rimmed bifocal glasses, "This pair of glasses is enchanted to prevent your dyslexia from being a problem, and should solve any eyesight you may have or develop."

Percy put them on, feeling rather dapper, and immediately noticed that his vision lost its blur that he never knew he had. He thanked the headmaster gratefully.

"I don't think there is a spell that can reverse hyperactivity, so I will give you a free pass. This means that no teacher can give you detention or dock you house points for anything you may not normally say if you didn't have ADHD and that little mind problem of yours." Dumbledore said, a glint of knowledge in his eyes.

Percy was shocked about how he knew about that problem of his. Sure, he had been dropping a few subtle hints, but was he that obvious.

"I'm your headmaster, Perseus," he laughed heartily, "It's my job to know about you."

There was a knock at the door and Percy Weasley stuck his head through.

"Alright, Mr Potter, I hope you have a good night's sleep," Professor Dumbledore said as he stood up and went to the door.

"Also, I have managed to squeeze your bed in your brother's room, though it may be in a peculiar position. Just walk up to it as if physics doesn't matter."

With that, Percival pulled him out of the office and began to lead him back to Gryffindor tower. Percy didn't pay attention to the route that they took, or the fact that it was different to the way he got there, because he was too engrossed in his own thoughts.

Before he knew it, Percival was saying the password and he was clambering through the hole. Percival told him that his room was the top one and went downstairs to go catch some Zs. Percy stumbled all the way upstairs and into the room where his brother and his new classmates were slumbering away like little babies.

At first, Percy couldn't see his bed; there were the five inhabited ones, and there was not enough space for a sixth. Then he happened to look up.

He broke into a compressed fit of laughter as he saw the upside down bed that was suspended from the ceiling. As he calmed down, he recalled what Dumbledore had said before he had left:

 _"Just walk up to it as if physics doesn't matter."_

On a whim, Percy walked up to the wall and placed his foot onto it. Uncertainly, he placed his other foot in front of it. His world spun as his orientation changed. He chuckled as he saw that he was standing, unsupported, on the wall, like gravity had changed direction for him. Or it was magic.

Probably the former.

He walked up the wall and onto the ceiling so that he was completely upside down. His sleeping brother looked completely strange from his point of view.

He looked under his bed and saw all of his trunks and cases there (he didn't have many but they were all present all the same). He pulled out the one with all of clothes and changed into his nightwear. He was satisfied with whatever charm the headmaster had done when his clothes did not fall to the floor.

He was also amused with the fact that if he jumped up and did half a flip, he would land on the floor with gravity working as normal again.

After quickly brushing his teeth, he got back onto the ceiling and jumped into bed. His giddiness prevented him from falling straight to sleep, but he was unconscious within ten minutes.

* * *

A horrible nightmare plagued both of the Potter boys that night. They dreamed that they were wearing Professor Quirrell's bizarre purple turban. It was talking them, insisting that they must transfer to Slytherin as it was their destiny to be there. They denied the turban, telling it that they were happy in Gryffindor and didn't want to go to Slytherin. It got heavier and heavier on their heads as they wrestled with it to try to pull it from their heads.

Malfoy was there, laughing at their futile attempts to remove the item, then Malfoy morphed into the hook-nosed teacher Snape, and the laugh became high in pitch and cold as ice. Suddenly, there was a some-what familiar violent flash of green light.

This episode woke them up at different points in the night, cold, clammy and with a sweat. Harry rolled over and promptly fell asleep again.

Percy, in complete instinct, cursed Morpheus under his breath before passing out.

Both boys, when they woke up the next day to sunshine beaming through the window, didn't remember anything strange that occurred the previous night.

* * *

 **Dafuq is this shit, huh? Another update within weeks?**

 **I really outdid myself this time, didn't I?** **Just kidding, I actually did what people wanted me to do. UPDATE QUICKLY!**

 **Quick note: I've changed my name to DarwinAGS. Don't worry though, 'cos it's still me.**

 **Signing off.**

 **DarwinAGS**


	7. Learning the Ropes

DarwinAGS owns jack-all, apart from my name.

* * *

Harry woke up feeling refreshed. After heaving an almighty yawn, he stumbled over into the bathroom to brush his teeth, because after failing to do so the night before, his mouth smelt like dog shit.

He quickly got changed into his robes for the school day. He didn't know his schedule yet, so he assumed that they would get them at breakfast. He noticed that Ron was still sleeping like a brick, Neville was mumbling something along the lines of "A few more minutes Grandma!" while Seamus and Dean were already getting changed, debating about the muggle sports of rugby and football.

Something didn't seem to be right. Harry had spent so long with his brother, that it was now strange that he wasn't present.

Just as these thoughts crossed his mind, he heard a soft thud behind him. Harry whipped his body around to see what had caused the noise that had startled him.

Percy was standing there with a trademark grin plastered on his face, tying his long hair back into a messy bun, so that strands were popping out all over the place, giving him a rugged look.

"Mornin'" Percy chirped, way to cheerfully for a person who was awake before seven o'clock.

"Where the hell did you come from?" Harry asked, stuck on deciding on whether he hadn't realised he was there, or just evaporated there to scare him.

"The ceiling," Percy said, pointing towards the roof of Gryffindor tower as he walked into the bathroom.

Harry looked up and saw that a bed was suspended upside down from the roof of the room. The bed was similar to Harry's and the others', but did not have any posts, so that nobody would happen to smack their face on them. The duvet was crumpled at the end of the bed and the pillow was on the floor.

"Dumbledore did that for me," Percy said as he emerged from the toilet, rubbing his face with a towel, "That was nice of him to put me in here with you guys."

By now, all of the other boys in the room were fully clothed and awake, and were gawping in disbelief at the bed on the ceiling.

"Oi, lads!" Percy yelled, snapping his fingers to snap them out of it, "It's just a bloody bed! I'm sure breakfast is more important."

As soon as he said this, Ron was already halfway out the door, closely followed by Neville. Harry, Percy, Seamus and Dean laughed at this, and trailed them down to the common room.

Fortunately, Percival the Prefect helped them on their way to the Great Hall. If they had not managed to bump into him, they would have ended up in some derelict corner of the castle for sure.

After a hearty Full English Breakfast, the six of the boys were ready to start the first academic day. Professor McGonagall stood at the head of the Gryffindor table and flicked her wand.

"As it is your first day, I recommend that you set off for your first class as soon as you have finished your food, so that you are not late, and start the year off on a bad note," McGonagall told the first years as the sheets of paper levitated across the entire room, one going to each student.

"If the new NEWT students could stay behind so that we can discuss your schedules in more detail."

"Is that them?"

"With the glasses!"

"And the ponytail?"

"IT'S NOT A PONYTAIL!" Percy yelled. The whispers and shushed conversations had followed the boys ever since they left the Great Hall to go to their first lesson. People were leaning over each other to see the 'Boy Who Lived' and his brother, the quickly appointed 'Boy Who Died' (Which Percy had originally frowned at, but hadn't protested against it).

Harry was certain that they had passed two blonde girls at least five times, and there was this Hufflepuff first year who wasn't he even attempting to be discrete about it. This didn't help the fact that neither of them had any idea where they were supposed to be going. They found that Hogwarts was even bigger than they had originally thought, and they first thought that it had been massive.

Hundreds of corridors collided and intersected at junctions which all looked the same. From the information the had received from the Weasley twins, there were 142 staircases that joined the many tiers of Hogwarts castle. Some of these happened to be different on Fridays, and so sometimes led to the Dungeons instead of the Astronomy Tower, which happened to be extremely irritating if you happened to be late for Astronomy. One pesky set of stairs made the thirteenth step disappear, so one had to remember to jump over it to avoid getting stuck in the floor.

The doors were also little bitches if they wanted to be. Some doors didn't open, some weren't doors, but walls just playing a prank. Certain doors, like one of the ones on the way to the Infirmary, had to be tickled underneath the lock.

The annoying poltergeist from the first night wasn't any help either. More often than not, he would pull carpets out from under students, possess the many sets of armour around the school and chase the children away from their destination, or sneak up behind someone invisible and grab their nose and yell "GOT YOUR CONK!"

Somehow, on the second day, Percy had made some sort of agreement with Peeves, which he called a Prankster's Truce. It meant that Peeves would not prank Percy and vice versa, and that they were liable to help each other out with pranks.

After they had got lost twice trying to get to their first lesson, the brothers (and Ron, who was tagging along, because he was equally lost) got an unfortunate run in with the caretaker, Filch.

Nobody liked the old man, what with his constant sickly sneer as he patrolled the corridors, looking for any reason to get anybody in trouble. His cat was just as bad. Doris the Cat had her owners beady eyes, and should anybody step a foot out of line in front of her, she'd call, and Filch would be there, out of breath, within seconds.

Percy, Harry and Ron had bumped into him when they were trying to open a locked door that unluckily happened to be the entrance to the third floor corridor. They were only saved from a death by detention by Quirrell, who happened to be walking by.

When they finally got to the lesson, they quickly realised that not all magic was some fancy wand waving and saying some Latin words.

They had classes all over the school, which included Herbology in the greenhouses just outside of the castle, which Gryffindor had three times per week, and Astronomy every Wednesday at midnight on top of the tallest tower.

The most boring lesson that they had had to be History of Magic. It was so boring, because it was the only subject in which a ghost was the teacher. Apparently, Professor Binns taught at the school for over seventy years, before one morning, after dozing off the night before in a comfy armchair in front of a roaring fireplace, he got up to go teach and left his body behind him.

They had charms twice a week with the Ravenclaws with the dwarf Professor Flitwick. When calling the roll call, he toppled out of his chair at the front of the classroom, drawing laughs from the students (Well, the Gryffindors anyway. The Ravenclaws were very hard to crack), before he began to teach them the Accio spell.

After charms on the Monday, they had Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall.

"Transfiguration is one of the most difficult and complex forms of magic you can learn," McGonagall announced, pacing in front of the students, "I would like to inform you in advance that I will not tolerate any messing around in my lessons and if you do such, you'll find yourself in the headmaster's office before you can say 'detention'.

Then, in a demonstration of the subject, she turned her desk into a hairy, disgruntled pig and back, which was met with polite applause from the class.

After writing down shit tons of notes, she set the class off with a practical; changing a matchstick into a needle. Most people got lucky if they managed to get a point. The nerdy girl from earlier, Hermione, made the matchstick a shiny, silver colour, but it did not turn metal.

Naturally, Percy showed everyone up by brandishing a pointy, metal needle three minutes after the task was set. Professor McGonagall looked at him with a surprising amount of pride and gave him ten house points. Hermione looked pretty pissed off at him because of that, but there was also a bit of admiration there as well.

After this was Defence Against the Dark Arts. The entire class had been looking forward to it ever since they received their timetables. Unfortunately, it ended up being a bit of a joke.

They immediately knew it was going to be a bit shit, when the classroom was locked and Professor Quirrell was shockingly late for his lesson, clutching desperately to a wooden stake; his eyes flicking to every nook and cranny of the stone corridor, as if searching for a tiny mite egg.

When they finally got into the classroom – about twenty minutes after they should have – the class was met by the most horrid stench. Lavender Brown threw up on the spot and was escorted to Madam Pomfrey in the infirmary wing by an Asian girl that she had befriended called Parvarti Patil. Percy accompanied at least a quarter of the class to the toilets before they could ruin any more of the floor.

When that group returned, they could see the origins of the smell. Cloves and cloves of garlic was hung from the ceiling, the scent almost visible. As they sat down, they saw that Lavender had returned with Parvarti, both sporting clothes pegs on their noses.

When they asked Quirrell why his classroom was decorated in such a fashion, his response was far from being legitimate.

"B-b-ba-back when I-I-I w-wa-was in Ro-Romania, I m-m-made a-an ene-enemy out o-of a-a-a v-va-vamp-vampire. Ca-ca-can't be t-t-too car-careful, hm-mm?"

"Bitch, what?" Percy yelled back.

Eventually, the lesson got under way, and the class begun the lesson. However, not even five minutes later, they were once again side tracked when Seamus Finnigan asked the teacher about his turban.

It took about five minutes to deliver and also interpret what Quirrell had to say, but they Harry managed to work out what he said and translated it to the rest of the class. Apparently the professor had received it as a gift from an African prince after he had dealt with a pesky zombie that had been terrorising the locals.

"How did you get rid of the zombie professor?" Dean Thomas asked leaning forward.

Professor Quirrell eyes darted around the room nervously, before saying: "T-t-tu-turn t-to pa-pa-page 35."

Dean slumped back into his seat and started to doodle inside his DADA textbook: tiny pictures of West Ham football players winning the FA Cup or something like that.

Percy began trying to plait his long hair, which he had taken out of the elastic band that he had put his wild locks into earlier that day. Lavender and Parvarti started talking about makeup or something extremely girly.

Harry slammed his head onto the desk and didn't move until he heard chairs being scraped all over the classroom and saw the charge of students begging for fresh air and escape from the shitty teacher.

Even when he wasn't in his classroom, a funny odour followed him around everywhere he went. The Weasley twins said that he packed his turban full of garlic so that he was always protected from the 'vampire' that he kept going on about.

Luckily enough, everyone in Gryffindor was on the same page. They all seemed to have quite limited knowledge of what they were doing and usually were all stumped by the same questions. Except for Hermione and Percy, who seemed to have this unofficial rivalry with each other to see who was smarter.

Harry just hoped that he would get better as time passed by, so that he would not get constantly shown up by his brother in later life. But being smart was difficult according to Percy.

'Meh,' Harry thought as he walked through the corridors, ignoring the stares, 'As long as I get good grades.'

Friday was a big day for the boys. Over the week they had increased their relationship with Ron, so much so, that it was rare to see Harry without either the red head or Percy.

As the trio tucked into breakfast (porridge with golden syrup, raspberries and bananas; a surprisingly good combination), the others from their class sat down near them. Dean left as quickly as he arrived, hastily saying that he had homework to do. It was true; the Gryffindors had been told to do a foot-long essay on the spell Accio, which they had been doing in class.

The owls flooded into the Great Hall. Blurs of browns and greys zipped around the roof of the Hall, dropping parcels and swooping down to deliver letters.

Harry and Percy had not yet received any mail, but their respective owls did pop in for a visit everyday. Hedwig would come along and sit on Harry's shoulder and nip at his ear. Theseus would nestle himself into the crook of Percy's neck and scavenge off of the remains of the boys' breakfasts.

Today was slightly different. Hedwig landed silently on Harry's head, holding a small note of parchment in her mouth. She nudged Harry to get his attention. When he turned around, he took the paper from her beak and stroked her a bit.

His first letter had come from Hagrid. The handwriting was awfully untidy and scrawny, but luckily legible.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

 **Dear Harry,**

 **I know that you get Friday afternoons off, so would you like to pop down for a cup of tea around three?**

 **I want to hear all about what's happened in your first week.**

 **Send me an answer with Hedwig.**

 **Hagrid.**

 **PS: Bring Percy if he would like to come.**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Harry quickly nicked Ron's quill from his back pocket, and scribbled a hasty 'yes please, that would be nice' and gave the note back to Hedwig. With a peck to the hear, she took off, flying up to the roof's almost invisible rafters.

At almost the same moment Hedwig had left the table, Theseus arrived, carrying a much larger letter. It came in an envelope with a wax seal on it.

"Hold up, mate!" Ron exclaimed, dropping his spoon in his sweet breakfast, "That's my family's crest! Why the bloody hell have you got a letter from someone in my family? Please tell me it's not from my mum! God that would be awful!"

"Gods," Percy corrected absentmindedly, as he snapped the wax seal, and prised the letter inside out, his comment ignored.

"It's from your sister," Percy said, "Her name was Ginny, wasn't it?"

"Why is she writing to you?" Ron demanded.

"I told her she could!" Percy explained, "Didn't you realise that she's on her own at home, with no one to do anything with, whilst her brothers are off at the place where she wants to be the most?"

Ron pulled a thoughtful face, "I suppose. I never really realised that."

Percy gave Ron his patented 'Told You So' face and unfolded the letter.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

 **Dear Perseus,**

 **Are you really Perseus Potter? My mother told me that you died in the stories she told me when I was younger. Is that true?**

 **I'd just like to say thank you for letting me write to you. Charlie and Bill, my two eldest brothers, used to write home all the time, but I don't get any letters anymore, now that they have graduated and got jobs. My other brothers don't tend to spare the time.**

 **Are you friends with my brother? You are in the same year aren't you? He's probably in Gryffindor. Can you tell him to not be a prat for me?**

 **Can you tell me all about Hogwarts? I've wanted to go for ages, but I'm not old enough yet. Next year I will be though. What is it like going there for the first time? I'd like to hear your opinion, because the rest of my family have said it's amazing.**

 **Please do write back, like you said you would. It gets awfully lonely with only my parents for company, and mostly just my mum because my dad works in the ministry. It'd be nice to talk to someone else every now and then.**

 **From Ginny.**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"Ron?" Percy asked whilst refolding the letter and placing it into a gold-trimmed pocket.

"Mmm?" Ron replied, as some porridge slopped out of his mouth, and dropped back into his half empty bowl.

"Ginny says to not be a prat."

Ron choked on a raspberry as he heard this, and Harry patted him hard on the back to dislodge the fruit.

When it came out, Ron grumbled some incomprehensive phrases, but Percy heard some of the words, like "Bloody she-devil of a sister" and "Smart-arse".

Percy snorted as he fed Theseus a berry, "Come to my room this evening, and I'll have a letter for you to deliver."

The owl hooted in response and flew away, snatching a rasher of bacon from Percival the Prefect's hand. Fred and George guffawed in laughter, whilst their older brother blushed brighter than the Gryffindor house colour. He circled around Hedwig a few times and shared his little meal, before the two owls disappeared into the sky.

After finishing their porridge, the boys started to look for the dungeons for their next lesson. It was lucky that they had their meeting with Hagrid in the afternoon, because the rest of the day was going to be horrid.

The boys had known that Professor Snape had not liked them. Apparently, this was wrong. No, the potions detested them. Hated them to the bottom of his cold, empty heart.

The class (which unfortunately was shared with the Slytherins, which meant that they had to put up with Malfoys unbelievably cocky smirk) filed into the classroom and took their seats. The classroom looked like a converted torture room, so the Slytherins fitted right in.

The students sat at desks in groups of four. Harry sat at the end of the table, next to Ron, who was adjacent to Percy. At the other side of the table sat Hermione, her books and quill out, raring to go.

The door snapped open and closed, and the entire class's attention was drawn to the potions master as he entered the room, his cloak dragging behind him. Once he was at the front of the room.

"You are here to learn the exact science and subtle art of potion-making," Professor Snape said, his voice no louder than a whisper, but the whole class heard every syllable, "I doubt that most of you will believe that this is magic, as there will be no ridiculous wand waving in this classroom. I don't expect any of you to truly understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that run through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses, capturing the soul…I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death – as long as you are not dunderheads like I normally have to teach."

No one had said a word during this speech. Snape, much like McGonagall, had the ability to keep the class quiet with no effort whatsoever. Everybody remained this way as Snape's eyes flickered across the classroom, trying to single out the idiots. The only person that moved was Hermione, who was nearly falling off of her seat in determination to prove that she was not a dunderhead.

Snape did the first potions register of the year. He hesitated after Harry's name.

"Harry Potter," he drawled, "Our new – celebrity."

The Slytherins snickered at this as the professor called out the rest of the class. Putting down the register silently, he looked out at his class.

"Potter!" he barked suddenly, causing everybody to jump in surprise, "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Powdered what of what with what? Ron didn't seem to know the answer either. To rub salt into the wound, Hermione was on her toes with her hand straight up into the air. Harry was about to submit to failure when Percy interrupted him.

"They would create the Draught of Living Death, the strongest sleeping potion that a wizard or witch could brew," Percy said casually. He hesitated, before adding a sarcastic, "Sir."

Snape's lips curled up into a sneer, "I don't believe that you were asked the question, were you? Minus five points to Gryff- "

"Woah woah woah! Hold up! You did ask me that question though," Percy reasoned, whilst the entirety of Gryffindor took a sharp inhale of breath, "You said, professor, and I quote, 'Potter!'. I am a Potter."

Snape seethed in anger, but did not retaliate, realising that his argument was correct.

"Mr _H_ Potter," he said, glaring daggers at Percy, "Where would you look for a bezoar?"

Another episode of silence. A bezoar didn't even sound like first year material, and if it wasn't, why would he expect Harry to know. In the corner of his eye, Hermione's hand was shaking as if it was trying to take off into flight.

Percy sneezed loudly. Hidden inside this sneeze was a badly hidden answer.

"Goat's stomach!" he fake-sneezed, "Incredibly sorry professor. It's a bit dusty."

"Potter!" he screamed, "I dare you to speak out of turn again this lesson!"

Percy put his hands up in surrender.

"Mr H Potter," he fumed, his eyes not leaving Harry's brother, "What is the difference between Monkshood and Wolfsbane?"

Harry quickly glanced at Percy, who did the tiniest of shrugs. Luckily it wasn't noticed by Snape. Hermione, meanwhile, had full on stood straight up, her hand convulsing in an effort to get noticed.

"I do not know sir," Harry muttered, "But I think that Hermione knows. Why don't you ask her?"

A couple of people laughed, Malfoy being one. Harry was certain that he found humour in the fact that Harry got the question wrong. Seamus was shaking with the giggles, and winked when he caught Harry's eye.

"Seems that fame isn't everything, is it Potter? Thought that you wouldn't need to pick up a book before you came?" Snape taunted.

"C'mon! That's just unnecessary!" Percy blurted, before clapping his hands to his mouth.

"You're lucky that the headmaster told us about your…condition," Snape growled, before turning his attention to Harry, "A point will be taken from Gryffindor for your cheek Potter."

Harry was about to protest, when Ron pulled him back into his seat, "Snape can get real nasty. Don't push it."

The lesson didn't really get much better for the Gryffindors. They were put into pairs and Snape drifted around the class as they tried to make a potion to cure boils watching them weigh dried nettle ("That is a wet nettle, you blabbering moron!") and crush snake fangs ("I said crush, not cut! What are you, a muggle?"), criticising everybody except for Percy and Hermione, as there (unfortunately for Snape) were no errors being made to pick up on, and Malfoy, who he seemed to like.

Just as he was telling everyone observe the wonderful way Malfoy had stirred some horned slugs, the dungeon began to fill with a horrid smelling green acidic gas partnered with a violent hissing. On the other side of the classroom, Seamus's cauldron had twisted into a metal mess, and his and Neville's potion had seeped off of the desk and onto the floor, where it crept slowly across the room.

It was a matter of seconds before everybody was standing on their stools so that the solution would not burn holes in their shoes. Neville was curled up into a ball, moaning and writhing in pain as red boils erupted angrily across his body.

"Idiot child!" Snape exclaimed, clearing the liquid away with a quick scourgify charm, "You added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the flame?"

Neville whimpered.

"Take him to the hospital wing, Mr Finnigan," Snape spat. As they left, he stormed over to Harry and Ron.

"You! I guess that you thought it would make you look good if he failed – if you didn't tell him! Another point lost for Gryffindor!"

"What the fuck!" Percy yelled in Harry's defence, "He's on the other side of the bloody classroom!"

Snape turned to him as a vein appeared on his pale forehead, "Profaning at your teacher? Do you not respect your superiors?"

"There don't seem to be any superiors in here!"

Snape looked like he was dying to take away all of Gryffindors points there and then, but he seemed to be held back by a spell or something.

An hour later, and the Gryffindors trudged out of Potions feeling like shit. Apart from Hermione and Percy. Hermione was in good spirits because Snape had given Gryffindor a point – albeit grudgingly – for the perfect potion that she and Percy had created. Percy was happy because he now had a goal to piss off Snape as much as he could without breaching this protection that the headmaster had created for him because of his ADHD.

Harry was the most depressed out of all of them. It wasn't even the second week and he had already lost two points for his house.

"Cheer up mate," Ron said, patting him on the shoulder, "Snape takes away points from everyone. Fred and George lost nearly one hundred points last year from him alone! Can I come with you to Hagrid's? The transfiguration can wait 'till tomorrow."

So, at ten to three in the afternoon, the trio set off towards the giant's house. They hiked across the school grounds along a small path. Hagrid lived in a wooden house on the edge of the forbidden forest. Two crossbows were hanging outside on the door.

Percy lifted Harry up so that he could use the knocker. As soon as the sound started to resonate into the boys' ears, a monstrously loud bark came from inside the house, rattling the house.

"Back, Fang!" they heard Hagrid yell, "Back!"

Hagrid's beard, followed by the rest of his face, appeared in the doorway, which had been opened just a crack.

"Hang on, boys!" he told them, "Fang, back!"

The door swung open, and the boys could see the source of the barking. Hagrid was leaning back, trying to stop a humongous black boarhound from jumping at them by holding its collar.

There was only one room inside the residence. Harris and pheasants and other game were hanging from the ceiling, and a copper kettle, similar to the one he had made some tea in at the Shack on the Rock, was boiling over a blazing fireplace. A massive bed, fit with dishevelled sheets and a pillow with a depression of a head in it.

"Make yerselves at home," Hagrid said, as the boys sat down at some seats near a table. He stumbled over to the kettle and began to pour his guests some tea. To do this, he had to let go of his dog, who bounded over and jumped onto the boys, licking their faces excitedly. Clearly the dog was not as dangerous as he had first seemed.

"Yer brought a Weasley?" Hagrid asked, glancing over at Ron, who nodded in affirmation whilst trying to push Fang off of his lap, "I've spent half me life tryin' teh keep yer brothers outta the forest."

"I'm Ron," their red haired friend said, plucking a rock cake from a tray and accepting a cup of tea from the giant. The cakes were lumpy, shapeless things with raisins that – coincidentally – were as hard as rocks. The boys, not wishing to offend Hagrid, pretended to eat and enjoy the rock cakes. They told the giant about their first few days of school and Fang rested his head on Harry's knee (Percy subtly used this as an opportunity to practise his hydrokinesis powers to dispel the dog's saliva out the window)

They were over the moon when Hagrid called Filch "a filthy old git" after they recounted the time when they accidentally tried to enter the third floor corridor.

"An' as fer that bloomin' cat, Mrs Norris, I'd love ter organise a play date with Fang. I swear, Filch puts her up to it, an' whenever I go up ter the school, she follows me round."

Harry told Hagrid about potions, while Percy struggled to hide laughter towards his misfortune. The giant listened to his complaints, and agreed with Ron, saying it was common behaviour for Snape to be cruel and unforgiving.

"But he seemed to have some sort of vendetta against me."

"Rubbish!" Hagrid countered, "Why would he?"

"He hates Percy as well!"

"Yeah, but Percy's a bit…well, special," Ron said, looking over at Perseus, "No offence, mate."

"None taken," he replied, rubbing Fang's ears as the dog panted happily.

"How's yer brother doin'? Charlie?" Hagrid asked Ron, eager to change the subject, refusing to look Harry in the eye, "I liked him – he was good with animals."

Ron told Hagrid about Charlie's adventures in Romania with dragons. Harry lost focus in the conversation and noticed a small cutting from a newspaper under a rather ugly tea cosy. He picked up the paper, and realised that it was from the magical newspaper with the moving pictures he had seen on the Rock – The Daily Prophet.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

 **GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN LATEST**

 **Investigations continue into the intrusion at Gringotts bank on 18th August. It is a popular belief that the break-in is the work of unknown dark wizards or witches.**

 **The Goblins at the bank informed the public that nothing had been taken from the bank, and that the vault in question and actually been completely emptied earlier that day.**

 **"If you know what is good for your health, keep your noses away! We will not tell you what resided inside there," said a spokesgoblin representing Gringotts earlier this morning.**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Harry vaguely recalled Ron, mentioning that Gringotts had been robbed, but he had never pressed further into the subject.

"Hagrid!" Percy said, "Gringotts was robbed on our birthday! It could have been happening while we were there!"

Hagrid would not even look in their direction for a good ten minutes, and then shooed them out of the room and the house into the cold outside. Before they were kicked out, Percy reread the article, and pointed out silently to his brother that the vault was the attempted burglary had taken place had been the one that Hagrid had visited after they had withdrawn their money; vault 'Yeh-know-which' (Also known as vault 713, if one was being formal)

Hagrid had emptied that vault, if emptying meant taking out the grubby little package. There was nothing else in there; it must have been what the thieves were looking for.

Harry, Ron and Percy walked back to the castle with pockets filled with heavy rock cakes that they had been to polite to refuse. As Percy threw the extra weight towards the lake, Harry realised that tea with Hagrid had incited more thinking than all of the classes he had participated in that week had.

Had Hagrid got lucky and collected the package just in time? Had he given it to someone? He remembered him saying something about it being an errand for the headmaster Dumbledore. Was it with him? Then there was the main question:

What did Hagrid know about Snape that he didn't want them to know about?

When Percy was certain that everyone was asleep in the room, he jumped silently from the ceiling and landed stealthily on the wooden floor without making a sound. He tip-toed over to the bathroom and closed the door.

He twisted the tap so that water came gushing out of the sink. The sound of it splashing against the ceramic bowl helped him to keep his calm.

He hadn't told anyone else at Hogwarts about his abilities. He didn't trust anyone enough. Somehow, he was sure that Professor Dumbledore knew, but if the silver haired man was anything like he presented himself as, Percy felt that his secret was safe for now.

After listening to the gurgling of the water for a few minutes to clear his mind (as well as a well needed shit), he re-entered the bedroom where his familiars were sound asleep. He walked up the wall and sat down at a desk next to his bed.

He cracked his knuckles and picked up his pen. Riptide. Another secret that no one knew about. They had only seen Anaklusmos in its pen form. He downright refused to use the quills that the other students used, and it made writing a hell of a lot quicker.

He began to put pen to paper. He hesitated for a moment, before writing the letter.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Dear Ginny,

 **Yes, I am the actual Perseus Potter. Yes, I am not dead. I mean, I kinda disappeared and went off the radar for about ten years. I didn't really have many long lasting accomplices. Nothing really major happened to me, until when I was six, when my life basically changed.**

 **I suppose letting you write to me and me to you is a bit of a stress reliever. Your older brothers are just doing what they want to. Percy (Percival, that is) is being the perfect prefect that he usually is. Fred and George are probably pranking someone; I might be helping them! Ron is NOT being a prat. I think his words were 'bloody she-devil'.**

 **Ron did follow your family's tradition, and me and Harry followed him to Gryffindor. Well, technically speaking, Ron followed Harry, then I followed them. There were some complications with the sorting, but they got ironed out.**

 **Hogwarts is brilliant. It's amazingly big. I don't think that I'll stop getting lost until at least Christmas. I'm right at the top of the Gryffindor tower and the views from up there are freaking astonishing. You can see the Black Lake and the moon's reflection in it (I'm writing this at, what, eleven o'clock at night). The teachers are pretty good too. Except for Snape. I've put it upon myself to annoy him as much as I can without losing house points, but don't do that when you come here.**

 **Coming here for the first time, the castle just blows your mind to smithereens. It's majestic and breath-taking, and there are some parts of the castle where you've actually got your head in the clouds!**

 **Write back soon,**

 **Percy**

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

Just as Percy was finishing the letter, there was a quiet tapping at the window. He looked over and saw the eyes of his pitch black owl. It had gotten extremely dark outside so it was hard to distinguish Theseus's body.

He let his pet in and sealed the parchment he had written on inside a neat envelope. He rolled up the letter and tied it to the owl's leg. Before letting his owl go, he reached under the desk and pulled out some treats, which Theseus ate with gusto. He let out a small hoot of content before flapping his wings and disappearing out of the window and into the starry night.

After watching Theseus leave, Percy jumped back into bed and tucked himself under the covers. Moments later, he was asleep, drool already starting to collect in his pillow.

 _Flashes of light disturbed the six-year-old as he ran towards where the screams of terror were coming from. Violent laughter erupted from the small dip in the landscape as he summited the small hill separating the boy from the activity._

 _He could see a small girl crying as she ran for cover behind debris that was scattered around her. A man, easily pale even in the dark night, was firing curse after curse at the child all the while laughing like an insaniac._

 _The girl was running out of places to hide as hot tears streamed down her young face. The boy sprinted down the hill, determined to help._

 _"Stop!" he yelled at the man, who looked at him peculiarly._

 _"A child as innocent as you, running into me?" he grinned maniacally, "Must be my night!"_

 _With an ugly scream, a green bolt speeded towards the frozen girl, who had no time to react. The light hit her in the chest and she flew backwards, limp as a ragdoll._

 _The boy looked on in disbelief. Was she…dead?_

 _He suddenly started screaming in pain. He writhed in agony and the man laughed as he tormented him. It wouldn't stop. He felt as if he were screaming for hours, or days._

 _Then, something inside snapped. The boy dropped to the ground. He noticed that the man had stopped his cackling and was coming towards him. He felt his hand curl around a long object._

 _When the man got too close, the boy jumped up and stabbed wildly. He opened his eyes to see that he had caught the man in his head. The man let out a weak cry before collapsing and dissolving into the ground._

 _The boy was not shocked with what he had done. He did not care that he had just killed a man. At least, he didn't care at that moment. He rushed over to the fallen girl and saw her lifeless face._

 _He felt his heart clench with anguish. He started to pray, as he cradled her cold body._

 _"Please," he begged, "If there is someone up there; save her. Take me if you must, but please save her."_

 _He didn't hear the sound of a motorcycle coming towards him, and the giant that arrived at the scene found the boy unconscious as the events of the night caught up with him._

So, what was that? Review with your opinions (Even though I think that it is quite obvious).

It is really morale raising when you know that your story has some interest, so please do review, favourite and follow (If you want to. I can't force you to, which is a shame). Even if you just say "This chapter was good/bad" that is good enough for me, because it lets me know what you guys think.

See you guys (and dolls) next time!

DarwinAGS


	8. Quidditch and Wizards' Duels

_**DarwinAGS is bored of this disclaimer BS, and never has or will ever own pretty much everything in this story. This is permanent and will never change. Do I have to do this again next time?**_

* * *

The Slytherins were the group of people Harry detested the most at the present moment in time, Professor Snape and especially Draco Malfoy included. Luckily, most of the time, the Slytherins could be avoided, considered that the Lions and the Snakes only shared one class. Unluckily, this was about to change.

Flying had been a hot topic for the first years ever since they had got settled into the school regime. It was almost a definite that if a first year was not eating or doing homework, they were talking to their peers about flying.

Many a time, Percy had zoned out on Ron as he rambled about how much he was looking forward to flying lessons and the times that he nearly crashed into hang gliders. Malfoy was commonly heard by almost everybody bragging about his skills on a broom, and how he had been flying since he could walk. He was constantly moaning and whining about how first years weren't allowed onto the quidditch teams.

It wasn't just Malfoy and Ron. If someone had been brought up by wizards, they had stories to tell about their flying adventures. Seamus told everyone about the liberating feeling zipping around the Irish countryside would bring to you over a roast dinner one Sunday night.

Neville had never quite had the expeditions he'd wished to have when he was younger.

"My nan would never even let me near a broom," he explained, "To be fair to her, she had good reason. I can barely walk five feet without causing an accident!"

The opening of the school year's fourth week brought along a well-wanted poster on the Gryffindor notice board.

Harry and Percy woke up that morning to find, to their surprise, the rest of the boys in their dorm already up and out of the room. Shaking off their confusion, they proceeded to get ready for the day, switching from their pyjamas to their robes.

As they went down to the common room, they saw a large group of their colleagues milling around the notice board.

"What's happening Ron?" Harry asked, as their red-headed friend emerged from the crowd. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet as if he was on a sugar high.

"Only the best thing that could have possibly happened right now!" Ron squeaked in excitement.

"Malfoy got expelled and is being hung from the Astronomy Tower by his royal underpants as punishment?" Percy asked sarcastically, cocking an eyebrow.

"No," Ron confirmed, "That would be absolutely wicked, but no. Just look for yourselves!"

Led by Percy, who had to undertake a fair amount of pushing and shoving, Harry found himself at the front, looking at the new flyer on the board.

"Gryffindor first years starting flying lessons with Madam Hooch on Thursday?" Harry read out.

"Bloody brilliant, right?" Ron responded, grinning.

"Have none of you read the small print?" Percy called, pointing to the bottom of the manuscript, "There's always small print. It's with the frickin' Slytherins."

There was a loud collection of groans from the entire crowd. However, this didn't keep their spirits down for long, as they were too keen to start or continue flying. On Thursday morning, everybody was up early, too excited to stay asleep for much longer.

There was loud chatter across the tables as Gryffindors and Slytherins alike conversed about the lesson that was to occur that afternoon. Hermione, flustered for what seemed for the first time due to the fact that flying was not a theoretical activity, was spouting quotes and phrases from the book ' _Quidditch Throughout The Ages_ ', which she had found in the library and had religiously studied to prepare as much as she could for that afternoon.

Between her and Neville, who was desperately hanging onto every word she said in hopes of remaining on his broom, Percy was smashing his forehead black and blue on the table.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked, once more concerned for his brother's mental and physical health.

"Am I alright?" Percy replied almost maniacally, "No, I'm fucking not. I already know all this shit."

He turned to Hermione, who looked ready to serve him detention and whack him stupid with a cane, and rubbed his temples, "Could you, by any chance, be quieter? I'm getting a bloody migraine; people like me don't get migraines!"

Hermione huffed and beckoned Neville to come sit next to her, seeing as he was the only one listening.

Fortunately for the Potter boys and everyone else in the nearby vicinity, the mail birds started to arrive, interrupting Hermione's speech.

Harry had not had any mail since Hagrid's invitation for tea in the first week and today didn't seem to be different. He looked over to the Slytherin table and saw Malfoy passing a few sweets around from a large, bulging bag. He always got owls from his parents with presents in them, and he wasn't shy about showing them off either.

Harry spotted Hedwig spiralling down from the roof for a bit of his breakfast. She was closely followed by a blur of black known as Theseus. Hedwig sat on Harry's shoulder and pecked affectionately at his ear as Percy untied another letter from Ginny Weasley from his owl's leg. On seeing the letter, Ron frowned slightly but got distracted by Dean Thomas's adamance that football, this odd game with only one ball and no flying, was better than quidditch. Percy grinned and carefully put the letter in one of his robe's pockets.

Neville jumped in surprise as a tiny barn owl face-planted in his cereal bowl. It uncurled its foot and a small brown parcel partnered with a letter was dropped in front of him. He unwrapped it quickly.

"My nan's sent me a remembrall!" he exclaimed, gaining the attention of those around him as he held up a small glass ball, "It's supposed to go red if you've forgotten something."

Promptly, as if on cue, the remembrall turned a bright shade of scarlet, matched by Neville's face as he got flush from embarrassment.

"Oh. I'm always forgetting things," he murmured shyly. Suddenly, it was snatched from his pudgy hands.

"Nice present, Longbottom!" Malfoy sneered, as his goons Crabbe and Goyle snickered behind him.

Harry and Ron shot up from their seats like rockets. Percy, still seated, looked between them both, grimaced at Draco and his lackeys and returned to his porridge.

"He's all yours," he said, picking up his spoon, "I'm not wasting my time on him."

"Why you little brat!" Draco seethed, as he set himself ready to jump at him. Harry prepared to counter. The intensity could be felt in the cool Autumn air.

"Is there a problem here?" came a strong Scottish accent as Professor McGonagall appeared on the scene.

Malfoy scowled, "Just looking," he muttered, as he shoved the remembrall into Neville's trembling hands. The teacher gave them all a stern, apprehensive glare to remind them of the warning she gave before they were sorted, then returned to the table at the front of the great hall.

Just as Malfoy was leaving, Percy decided to speak.

"By the way Malfoy," he called to the retreating boy, "While you were holding it, it was red. Did you leave your balls at Malfoy Manor again?"

The Gryffindor table burst into laughter. Draco whipped his head around as a vein appeared on his forehead.

"Just you wait, _Potter_ ," he spat out the name like poison, and stormed back to his house. Ron patted Percy on the back.

"This is why we love having you in Gryffindor, mate." Ron laughed. Percy blinked.

"Thanks...I think."

* * *

At half past three that afternoon, the Gryffindors raced out the massive front doors and down the stairs, eager to get started. There was a clear, bright sky as a light breeze pushed the students' hair backwards.

Harry followed his classmates towards a flat section of the school grounds surrounded by tall wooden stands opposite the forbidden forest, where the tall trees swayed darkly.

As he got closer, he noticed that the Slytherins were already there, talking in groups of two or three. Draco was whispering in a tight huddle with Theodore Nott and a coloured boy Harry remembered as Blaise Zabini.

There was a line of 20 broomsticks starting near their feet. Looking at the old, ugly sticks, Harry was reminded of when Fred and George Weasley were complaining about the state of the school brooms; according to them, if they could be trusted, some vibrated if they went too high and some would veer off in random directions.

"Hey Harry!" he heard his brother, as Percy walked towards them from the opposite direction they had come from.

"Why were you here so early?" Harry asked, hands on his knees as he recovered from the exercise. Boy, he was out of shape.

"Why were you nearly late?" Percy replied, forcing Harry's hands behind his head so he could catch his breath quicker, "I was talking to Daphne Greengrass and her friend Tracey."

He jerked his thumb behind him, pointing at two girls who were looking at the brothers from a distance. One of them, which Harry recalled as the Greengrass girl, had blonde hair and piercing ice blue eyes. The other, obviously Tracey, had long brown hair. She seemed a lot more at ease than Daphne.

"Yeah, they are Slytherins, but they're alright," Percy said off-handedly, looking at the poor excuses of brooms, "But I found out why she's known as the Ice Queen. She did not appreciate it when I asked if she had ever been in the mystery machine. Got a bruise on my arm for that."

Harry apprehensively glanced at Daphne again, who had a sneer plastered on her face as if to say ' _Don't mess with me, or you'll regret it_ '.

Suddenly, their flying teacher Madam Hooch (who had short, spiky grey hair and hawk-like yellow eyes) appeared and instructed them to line up in front of the brooms.

"What are you waiting for?" she barked, "Get in line; behind a broom!"

Whilst he knew the other brooms were just the same, Harry wasn't feeling optimistic about his broom, which had stray twigs everywhere.

Standing at the front of the line, Madam Hooch called out the next instructions, "Stick your dominant hand over your broom, and say "Up!" with meaning."

At exactly the same time, everyone shouted "UP!" at the same time. But then it got random and jumbled up.

Harry's broom jumped straight into his hand at once, but he was only one of few who managed to do it. To Harry's dismay, Draco had done it as well and was standing there with a smug smile on his face.

Percy had been over dramatic and rolled his eyes to the top of his head and growled "UP!" in a very evil manner. The broom flew into his hand and he spun it a few times in his hands and behind his back before miming stabbing a downed enemy. He had a crazy grin on his face.

For the others, it was not going as well. Hermione's broom, no matter how sternly she exclaimed the command, looked like it was having a seizure on the ground, and she was getting quite angry at it.

Next to her, Neville's voice was quivering as his broom stayed perfectly still. Percy frowned at this and got a brooding expression. Harry, meanwhile, was wondering whether the brooms could detect fear.

In the end, Neville had resorted to just picking the broom up and whimpering in defeat. Madam Hooch then proceeded to teach them how to properly mount their brooms. To the Gryffindors' delight, Madam Hooch told Draco that he had been doing it wrong his entire life, which caused them to have to hold in their laughter.

"Right! When I blow my whistle, I want you to kick hard from the ground," Madam Hooch announced after correcting everyone's mount and grip, "Then hover in the air for a few seconds and come down by leaning forward. Remember, not too high. Three, two-"

Neville, in his nervousness, beat the whistle and kicked off too early. He and his broom rose uncertainly into the air.

"Come down, boy!" Madam Hooch yelled. The children all stared in disbelief at the flying Neville, whose knuckles were turning white from his tight grip on the broom.

Fifteen feet...eighteen feet…he kept on rising higher and higher. When he had reached 25 feet, he looked down. He gasped in terror and slid off the side of the broom.

He plummeted sideways back to the ground. Unfortunately, Percy was in his path.

"SON OF A BI-"

There was a loud crack as Neville made contact. The broom, almost as if it sensed it's freedom, floating off over the Forbidden Forest, disappearing into the distance.

Madam Hooch rushed over to Neville, who was moaning and clutching his hand.

"Tsk. Broken wrist. Here, I'll take you to Madam Pomfrey," she turned to the rest of the group, "No one move. If anyone decides to fly while I am gone, they'll be expelled before they can say 'Quidditch'."

As they left the field, Percy rose from the floor, wobbling. He grimaced as he gently patted his chest.

"Ugh. Broken ribs," he flinched as he snapped a broken bone back into place. He seemed to have a strong defence system in him. It reminded Harry of when he dislocated his shoulder back at King's Cross, and he just shoved it back into place.

"Hey, don't look at me like that!" Percy said, snapping his fingers in Harry's face, "I'll see the matron later."

"Did you see his face, the great lump!" Malfoy's smug laughter cut through the breeze.

He was joined by the other Slytherins, apart from the girls Percy had been talking to earlier, who looked at Malfoy with disgust.

He lifted a small, glittering ball from the grass and held it for all to see.

"Look, it's that stupid thing that he got from his grandmother!"

"Shut up, Malfoy," Parvati Patil interrupted, surprising everyone as she crossed her arms and glared at Draco.

"Ooh! Sticking up for Longbottom, Patil?" Pansy Parkinson, a stocky girl sneered, "Didn't know you like fat crybabies."

The Slytherins hollered, backing her up.

"Hiding behind your girlfriend, Draco?" Percy fired back instantly, standing beside Parvati, "She doesn't look like your type. I thought you were into posh, stuck-up twats like yourself."

Malfoy turned a furious red as the Gryffindors laughed at his expense. Percy fist bumped with Ron, who was doubled over in his excitement.

"C'mon Malfoy, pass over the remembrall," Percy said, extending his arm for the ball, "You've lost this battle."

Draco glared a hole through Percy's skull. Percy, however, was completely unfazed by this attempt at intimidation.

"Give it here, Malfoy," Harry said quietly, but everyone heard it. Draco stared at Harry, but his face lit up.

"You know what, Potter," he said cockily as he reached for a broom, "I think I'll leave it in a tree for him to get it."

He mounted the broom and kicked off, shooting in the air. He hadn't been completely lying then; he definitely had at least some skills.

Harry felt a burning determination inside him and turned to his brother. Percy had picked up a broom, and thrust it into Harry's grip, giving him a nod as he did so.

"Harry, no!" Hermione shouted, "Do you remember what she said? You'll get expelled!"

Harry ignored her, and kicked off into the sky, holding tightly onto the broom.

Harry could faintly hear the whoops of his classmates as he soared through the air, the wind whipping at his long, untamed hair. He felt truly free for the first time in his life. He would look back on this as one of his happiest moments.

Focusing on the floating figure in the distance, he quickly caught up with Malfoy. Even though he had never been on a broom in his life, he felt like he had control over it. He didn't need to be taught this; he was a fricking natural.

"Give it here, Malfoy," he yelled confidently, "or I'll knock you off your broom!"

"Oh really?" Malfoy smirked, but his eyes flicked around, showing his discomfort and nervousness.

"OH YEEAHHH!" Percy screamed, cutting close to Draco's head. Malfoy just managed to duck and avoided being decapitated.

"No Crabbe and Goyle up here to save your neck now, Malfoy," Percy called, "Pass over the remembrall."

"It's two on one, you won't win," Harry explained. Draco seemed to have caught onto what they were saying and pulled back his arm.

"Catch it if you can, then!"

The glass ball flew high above the ground and began to curve down towards the ground.

Harry curled up tight to his broom and sped towards the twinkling ball. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as he leant forward and pointed the broom handle to the pitch below him.

He heard the wind whistle in his ears as he sped down, muffling the screams of the girls and the whoops from those of the likes of Ron and Seamus. As he began to close in on the ground due to his steep dive, he stretched out his hand.

Suddenly, he felt something drop into his palm. He snapped his hand shut and pulled up from his drop. He levelled out and lifted the remembrall above his head in triumph as the Gryffindors cheered his name. He felt a rush run through his body as the adrenaline refused to go.

As soon as he jumped off his broom, still brandishing the remembrall, he felt it be stolen from his grasp. He looked up and saw Malfoy hovering a few metres in the air, chucking the ball between his hands as he chuckled nastily.

"Watch out Draco!"

Draco whipped his head around so quickly Harry was surprised he didn't get whiplash. Just as the ball was leaving his right hand, Percy speared him to the ground at high velocity. Luckily, because they were close to the ground, neither were injured, but the two boys were horribly disoriented.

Percy stumbled to his feet, grabbing at his chest, and pointed at Dean Thomas and Ron, who were staring at him in shock, "That's legal in Rugby; the best sport, I might add."

Percy looked up and noticed the remembrall reaching the peak of its ascent and was beginning to fall once more. He sprinted onto his broom and caught it before it smashed on the floor below.

Taking a quick look around, he saw Draco shake off his confusion and return to his broom.

"Ah shit," Percy complained, as he turned his broom and sped off, chased by Malfoy.

The following chase was a spectacle to the flying abilities of Percy who, before that day, had never even touched a flying broomstick.

Malfoy tried to give chase, but couldn't close in on Percy, who was twisting and turning his way around the field. He even barrel rolled once. All the while screaming like a hyperactive child.

He was coaxed into flying towards one of the stands by Malfoy, who had swung round him and cut him off. He seemed to be headed straight towards the wooden structure.

The audience began to worry. Lavender Brown shrieked and fainted while Hermione put her hands to her mouth. Even the normally emotionless Ice Queen had her facial features contorted into an expression of concern.

Suddenly, just before Percy was about to splat onto the side of the stand, he kicked off his broom and onto the building. He ran up a few steps vertically, planted his foot down and flipped over Malfoy, who couldn't slow down quick enough and collided side on with the wood wall.

Percy free-fell for a second or two before correcting himself and grabbing onto his broom, which had begun to fall. He slowly landed in front of his friends, who were going mental due to his tricks, as Draco spiralled into the arms of Crabbe and Goyle.

Percy and Harry were raised onto the shoulders of their friends. Percy flipped the bird at the Slytherins, who were busy trying to recollect their leader.

"PERSEUS AND HARRISON POTTER!"

All celebrations ceased immediately. The air was deadly silent as Professor McGonagall stomped her way towards the Potter siblings, who were frozen in fear. Nothing quite compares to an angry Scotswoman on a Thursday afternoon.

"Never in all my years at Hogwarts…"

She was seething in shock, as her glasses flashed dangerously in the sunlight, "You could have broken your necks!"

"Please, Professor, it wasn't their fault-"

"Silence, Miss Patil."

"But Malfoy-"

"Mr Weasley," she said, staring daggers at Ron, "Harry, Perseus; follow me."

Harry caught sight of Malfoy, who was still shaking off his turbulence, hanging back with Crabbe and Goyle with smug sneers on their faces. He sulked as he trudged behind the transfiguration professor. He was definitely going to get expelled. His mind travelled to the darker parts of his imagination. He pictured himself in front of Headmaster Dumbledore as he shook his head in disapproval. He saw Hagrid giving him some chores to do, as he watched his new friends growing up and learning how to use their magic.

Worst of all, Percy was with him through all of it. Or maybe he wasn't. Harry wasn't certain which was worse.

He was pulled out of his depressing thoughts as Percy tugged on his sleeve. McGonagall, in her fury, had pulled away from the duo and he had to jog to catch up with her. She turned her way through the many corridors and paths that Hogwarts had to offer.

Just when Harry thought that they did not actually have a destination and were just going to keep on walking until their feet wore down, Professor McGonagall stopped in front of the charms classroom.

She knocked on the door and stuck her head into the lesson. Harry could just make out Professor Flitwick, halfway through demonstrating a spell on his podium at the front of the class.

"Excuse me, Professor," she asked into the room, "May I borrow Wood for a moment?"

Harry stared at Percy in confusion. What the heck was Wood? Was it a cane she was going to use to beat the living shit out of them?

" _I think it just might be a person,"_ Percy mentally told him and he relaxed slightly.

Low and behold, Professor McGonagall emerged from the room with a very stocky boy Harry had once seen at the far end of the Gryffindor table at dinner. He looked at the brothers almost as confused as they were.

To Harry's dismay, McGonagall started walking again and didn't show any signs of stopping anytime soon.

Luckily, she found what she wanted and led the three boys into an old, abandoned muggle studies classroom.

"OUT Peeves!" she yelled, as the poltergeist dropped the chalk he was using to write on the blackboard and blew a raspberry. He cackled and disappeared through the wall.

Percy looked at the board, "Fopdoodle? Caca Fuego? What the heck?"

She closed the door and sat down at a table.

"Wood, these are Harry and Percy Potter," she introduced the fifth year boy to the brothers, "Percy, Harry; this is Oliver Wood:"

"I have found you a seeker and a chaser."

Oliver's eyes bugged out of his head, "Are you serious Professor?"

"Entirely," Professor McGonagall confirmed with a tone of pride, "Harry here caught this remembrall after a fifty-foot dive without a scratch on him. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it himself."

 _A fifty-foot dive…._

It certainly didn't seem that long.

"And Percy displayed every single desirable attribute that you would want in a chaser. Brilliant intelligence when the environment around him changed. Very quick-minded and speedy as well."

Oliver looked as if he was going to pass out.

"This is brilliant!" he gushed, grinning like a madman, "I've been looking for a seeker ever since Charlie left last year. And ever since Alicia got injured in the Summer, she retired to the substitute bench 'cos she is worried it might happen again. I've got to organise new training sessions. So much to do…"

Wood rushed out of the room to start planning for the Quidditch season and Professor McGonagall smiled at the boys.

"I hope you live up to your father's legacy," she said kindly, all signs of her previous hostility gone. She turned serious.

"If I hear that you aren't trying your best in Quidditch, I may just reconsider this punishment."

And then she left the room, leaving two very confused but relieved eleven-year-olds.

"We're...not expelled then?" Percy asked.

"Yep."

"We're on the Quidditch team?"

"Yep."

"Can we shove it in Draco's face?"

"I don't think so."

"Alright, let's get back to the common room."

"Yep."

* * *

Pass that by me one more time," Ron asked serving himself another slice of steak and ale pie.

"Somehow we're on the Quidditch team," Harry explained to Ron for what seemed like the millionth time, "You're lucky that we're telling you. Wood told us that technically we shouldn't tell anyone."

"But you're not expelled?"

"No, Ron, we have not been expelled." Percy rolled his eyes.

"So, you're the youngest Quidditch players Hogwarts has ever seen."

"Yes Ron," Harry replied between huge mouthfuls of pie. His appetite had soared through the roof ever since the events of the afternoon.

"Hello fellas!"

The trio turned their heads to see George and Fred walking over to them.

"George. Fred," Percy said, pointing at each twin in turn.

"I'm impressed," George said, "Twice in a row."

"Your success rate is better than mum's," Fred continued.

"How'd you do it?" they said in unison.

"I've had experience with identical brothers before," he said, before frowning, "Though I don't remember where…"

"Well anyway, we came to congratulate you two-"

"On making it into the team."

"Wood told us. We're the beaters."

"Hopefully, we can win this season-"

"And take the Quidditch cup from the Slytherins."

"See you at training on Saturday,"

And with that, the twins took their leave. Harry blinked.

"How do you live with that all the time?" he asked Ron, who shook his head and grinned.

Unfortunately, their next visitor was not quite as invited as the twins.

"Enjoying your last meal Potter?" Draco sneered as he crossed over to the red table.

"Oh, yes," Percy responded, keeping eye contact with the git, "Nothing is quite as good as the taste of victory."

Draco was taken aback. This was not the response he was expecting.

"That's right, Malfoy," Ron gloated, "They made it onto the Quidditch team. Youngest players in over a century they are."

Harry's eye twitched.

' _Note to self: throttle Ron later,'_ Percy growled telepathically.

"Did you use your reputation, Potter?" he sneered, though jealousy could be seen through his eyes.

"Unlike someone at this table right now," Harry countered, poking Malfoy in the chest, "Our talent got us there, not some godforsaken blood purity."

Draco turned red and sputtered, "If you think you're so talented; a wizard's duel tonight, in the trophy room. That is if you even know what a wizard's duel is."

Before he could instinctively ask what this duel thing was, Ron stood up and glared at Malfoy.

"Of course he knows what a wizard's duel is. I'll be his second. Who's yours?" he challenged.

Percy raised a finger in protest, "Excuse me, I'm his second. You're his third. No offence mate,"

"Fine."

Malfoy looked at the Slytherin table.

"Crabbe! Goyle!" he barked. Obeying their social master, the two brainless lackeys raced over.

"My second and third," he spat at the trio, "See you tonight, Potter!"

He stormed back to the table of snakes.

* * *

"What the fuck is a wizard's duel?" Percy asked as they sat together in the common room. Harry and Ron were copying Percy's Transfiguration homework, which he had done a few days prior.

"I thought you knew, considering you forced yourself to be Harry's second," Ron replied, dipping his quill in his ink.

"Yeah, about that," Percy said, scratching the back of his head, "What's a second?"

Ron sighed, "A wizard's duel is a fight between two people who have wands and use their magic to try and beat the other."

"And what's the second for?" Harry asked as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

"He's there to take over when the first guy dies," Ron said offhandedly. Harry paled considerably.

"Don't worry mate," Ron quickly continued, "You're both only first years. The most that is going to happen is you'll throw a couple of sparks at each other. He was probably expecting you to refuse."

"And what do I do if neither of us can do anything?" Harry asked. Percy grinned at him.

"Bash his fucking face in!"

The trio laughed at the mental image of Draco grasping his face with blood dripping out of his nose.

"Excuse me."

They looked up and were met by the sight of Hermione Granger looking down at them with disapproval etched on her face.

"I couldn't help but overhear-"

"Naturally," Ron grimaced.

"What you are going to do is breaking so many school rules," she lectured, "You shouldn't go walking around the castle at night. Stop being so selfish and think of all the house points you will lose for Gryffindor!"

Harry and Ron rolled their eyes at the bushy haired girl and moved their stuff to another table to finish their work. She harrumphed as they left.

Percy stayed where he was, giving Hermione an apologetic look.

"Sorry 'bout them," Percy said, "They don't mean to be so rude."

Hermione realised who was talking to her.

"At least you've got some manners."

"Yeah. Don't worry too much about them. I'll make sure they won't get into any trouble."

"That's a bold statement," she replied, raising an eyebrow in curiosity, "How can you be so sure of yourself?"

Percy smirked, "Girl, please. I'm Perseus fricking Potter. I'm the McShizzle!"

He lost his smirk and rubbed his temples. Hermione gave him a sideways glance and walked off to the library to do some reading before curfew.

" _Leo…_ " Percy breathed shakily.

* * *

The boys lay in their beds, listening to the snores of Seamus and Dean, who had fallen asleep hours before. Harry stared up at the ceiling, wondering if something like this was going to be a common occurrence in the future. In his peripheral vision, he could see Percy tossing a scrunched up ball of parchment up and down. Or down and up. Depended on the viewpoint, really.

Suddenly, he felt a soft thud on his forehead. He sat up.

"It's nearly midnight," Percy whispered, pulling on his hoodie that Harry had first seen him wear back at the zoo a couple of months ago.

Harry leant over and nudged Ron, who had forgotten to stay awake and was cuddling close to his rat, Scabbers.

"Oi," he whisper-yelled, "Ron! Time to go."

Harry and Ron shrugged on their bathrobes and followed Percy down the stairs. They had nearly crossed over to the painting of the Fat Lady when a lamp turned on.

In unison, the trio turned their heads towards the light to see Hermione looking at them with a cross expression.

"I knew you wouldn't heed my advice," she said angrily, "You are bound to get caught!"

"Go back to bed, Hermione," Ron growled. She shook her head.

"I almost told the prefects," she stated, "They would have put a stop to this, and you wouldn't even be near the door."

Harry was infuriated. Didn't she realise he didn't care?

Ron pushed forward and tugged Harry by the arm of his robe, "Come on, we'll be late,"

Hermione rushed after them, jumping out of the portrait hole.

"I'm not just going to let you leave," she scolded them, "You might not care about your house, but I do. I won't let you lose the points Professor McGonagall awarded me for knowing about switching spells over some trivial argument you had with Malfoy!"

"Hermione, please!" Percy said, speaking for the first time, "Just go back. We won't lose any house points, I promise. Go back to bed before you alert Filch and get us all into trouble."

Her glare softened, but only slightly, "Fine, but when you're on the train tomorrow after getting caught, don't say I didn't tell you so."

She turned to return to the common room.

Unfortunately, the Fat Lady had decided to go for a twilight walk around the castle, and so poor Hermione had no way to return to her dorm.

"What am I going to do now?" she squeaked in horror.

"Not my problem," Ron snorted, "C'mon Harry, Percy."

The boys walked off down the corridor towards the great hall.

"I'm coming with you."

Hermione Granger had caught up to them, pink bathrobe flailing behind her.

"Like hell you are!"

"Ron!" Percy hissed, "Would you want to wait around on your own for Filch to come along, eat you for a midnight snack and regurgitate you up in detention?"

"Besides if he finds us," Hermione argued, "I can tell the truth. You were sneaking off and I tried to stop you."

"The nerve!" Ron snapped, glaring at the girl, "Who the hell do you think you are!"

"Shut up!" Harry glared at the pair, "There's something up ahead."

The group tiptoed towards a snuffling sort of sound.

Luckily it wasn't Mrs Norris.

"Thank Morgana you found me!" Neville cried, "I forgot the password and couldn't get to bed. The Bloody Baron has already been past. _Twice!_ "

"Neville!" Percy intervened, "Chill your shit!"

"The password is Pig Snout," Harry said, losing his patience with all of the interruptions, "Not like it makes a difference right now. The Fat Lady's pissed off to who knows where. So we'll be on our way. See you tomorr-"

"No! Don't leave me!" Neville pleaded, "It's so cold…"

Ron glared at his watch, "If either of you get us caught, I swear down, I will not rest until I've learned one of those hexes that Quirrell is trying to teach us and curse you for the rest of your lives!"

The quintet tiptoed through the dark, keeping a careful ear open for Filch and Mrs Norris. If that damn cat saw them, they would be in more trouble than the Weasley twins.

They got the great hall with no trouble and raced across so they would not be late. They would not have a moment of peace if Malfoy had anything against them other than the useless crap he used on them previously.

They descended a spiral staircase and opened the door. The trophy room was quite large, and so, using the light of the moon streaming through a window on the side of the room looked around for the Malfoy scion.

"The bastard's bunked on us," Percy scowled, "Coward."

That night was the one time they would've rather been with Malfoy.

"Sniff around, my sweet,"

The group froze and looked at each other in terror.

"They must be here somewhere," came the sickly voice of the caretaker, "Hiding in the shadows…"

The door creaked open as they silently ushered themselves behind a wall to avoid being seen. Harry's eyes darted around the room.

' _We need a distraction!'_ he panicked as Filch inched closer. He could smell him now.

' _You'll know when, on my signal, run for it,'_ Percy spoke in his head, he nodded. Unbeknownst to either of the brothers, the others nodded as well, thinking Percy had just whispered in their ears.

Just before the caretaker was about to turn the corner into the group, Neville panicked and fell back into a suit of armour, causing a clunking sound to resonate around the trophy room.

"What the-" Filch yelped, surprised. He was cut off before he could finish.

There was a loud thud from the ground, followed by the aggressive screech of Mrs Norris.

"RUN YOU IDIOTS!" came Percy's struggled yell, "DON'T JUST STAND THERE!"

Peering around the corner, Harry could see Filch slowly fading as he tried to break out of a locked in a sleeper hold. Percy had his arm wrapped around Filch's neck and his hand on his temple. Mrs Norris had been violently kicked to the side.

"Go! I'll follow you,"

Harry led the little group out of the trophy room and into the great hall. All they could hear were their sharp exchanges of breath and their footfalls. With anywhere but the trophy room in mind, Harry ran into the castle, traversing the many corridors.

Just as they entered the Charms corridor, they stopped to take a breather. They couldn't see Filch or his cat.

Suddenly, Percy burst through the tapestry in front of them, rolling as he hit the floor. He gazed back at the tapestry.

"Ah shit," he cursed, pulling out Riptide, changing it into its wand form before anyone could see it, " _Reparo_."

He pointed at the tapestry and a small light came out the end of his wand. The rips that had been created by him, stitched themselves back together, albeit quite crudely.

"C'mon!" he snapped his fingers to get their attention away from his piece of magic, "He's catching up. He wasn't as down for the count as I thought he was."

They had gotten three steps.

Three steps before even more shit went down the drain.

Peeves burst out of the wall, whacking Neville on the head. Ron caught him before he fell.

"Ickle firsties, out on a nighttime stroll?" the poltergeist cackled, "Tut. Tut. Tut."

"Peeves," Harry pleaded, "Shut up, please! You'll get us kicked out."

Peeves laughed maniacally, "Naughty, naughty! You'll get caughty!" he sang in his irritating sing-song voice.

Ron lost his patience (' _Again'_ Harry thought momentarily. He was seriously on a short fuse tonight) and tried to take a swipe at Peeves.

This was a mistake. If Peeves had matter, Ron would have knocked him into Ireland, but alas, he was just a pile of cytoplasmic bullshit.

"FIRSTIES OUT OF BED!" Peeves screamed, "STUDENTS IN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

Immediately, Percy had grabbed Hermione and Neville (who had been closest) and pegged it down the corridor, Harry and Ron following swiftly behind them.

"This is a breach of the Pranksters' Truce, Peeves!" Percy yelled, "You owe me big time!"

They raced up some stairs closely followed by the howling ghost. Just as they were about to go up another flight, it began to move, swinging left towards another door.

"In here!" Harry called out, yanking at the door handle.

"Shit! It's locked!"

" _Alohamora_."

The door swung open as the group stared at Hermione, who had her wand in her hand and a smug smile on her face.

"Where did they go Peeves? Tell me!"

At Filch's slimy voice, they piled into the room and closed the door. They all held their breaths.

"Nah-ah!" Peeves taunted, "I won't tell unless you're nice!"

"Tell me Peeves!"

"Shan't say nuffin if you don't say please."

"Fine!" Filch spat, " _Please._ "

"NOTHING!" Peeves screeched, "HAHA! Told you I would only say nothing if you said please!"

The students, with their ears pressed against the door, heard Peeves whoosh away into a wall and Filch wailing curses at the pesky ghost.

Just when they thought they were in the clear, they could see Filch's shadow underneath the door. Nobody dared move.

After what seemed like an eternity, they heard some distant footfalls, like someone was running, and Filch sprinted off. They all released their breaths. Neville had been weakly pulling at Harry's robes throughout the entire affair.

"What do you want, Neville?" he growled. Neville pointed a shaky finger behind Harry.

He turned around to the see that they weren't in a room, but they were actually in a corridor, and at the end of the corridor...well, he could see what was making Neville so scared.

It must have originally been confused by their sudden appearance, but it was slowly starting to prowl towards them. All three heads, all three mouths, all six beady eyes, stalking its way to them.

There was a knock on the door.

"Hey!" Percy's muffled voice came. None of them were thinking straight enough to wonder how he was outside the door, and not with them, "You guys do realise you're in the Forbidden Corridor?"

He didn't get a reply.

"Have you...er...died a very painful death?" he asked, "Say nothing if you're alive."

The three-headed dog howled and started to run towards them. Neville broke out of his entrancement and threw open the door, whimpering like a pup. The others hastily followed them out.

As they rushed to get out, Percy got a good look of the corridor. His eyes widened in shock.

"Cerberus?"

Ron slammed the door shut.

They all looked at each other.

"Common room?" Percy suggested weakly.

* * *

The quintet ran as fast as they could back to Gryffindor Tower. Fortunately, Filch had gone to check the dungeons for them, so there were no confrontations, apart from Peeves, who swung by to let Percy know that the Prankster's Truce was still going on.

"What on earth are you all doing out so late?" the Fat Lady inquired as they arrived at her portrait, sweaty and out of breath.

"Doesn't matter!" Harry panted, "Pig snout, pig snout."

They clambered into the common room. Neville wasted no time in rushing up to the dorm, forgetting even the slightest amount of stealth.

"What the bloody hell was that doing in a school?" Ron blurted out.

"Trapdoor," Percy said breathlessly, flopping into a chair by the fireplace.

Hermione rolled her eyes, regaining her bossy demeanour, "You really don't use your eyes, do you Ronald? At the end of the corridor, there was a trapdoor. It was guarding something."

There was a moment of thought.

"I'm going to bed now," she announced, walking to the girls' staircase, "I hope you have all learnt your lesson about breaking curfew. We could have been killed tonight. Or even worse!"

"What could possibly be worse than death?" Ron asked, flabbergasted.

"Expulsion. Good night."

The boys stared at each other as Hermione ascended to her dorm.

"You know, she's not half bad, apart from the fact that her priorities are fucked up," Percy chuckled, standing up.

"Do not even joke about it," Ron moaned as they made their way up to their dorm.

As they opened the door, they realised that Neville had already fallen asleep, the terror from earlier catching up to him. Ron quickly followed, not even bothered to change into his pyjamas.

After changing, the boys got into their respective beds and tucked themselves in.

"Percy, I think I know what's under that trapdoor," Harry whispered.

"Pray, do tell, dearest brother."

"Remember how Hagrid said that the only place possibly safer than Gringotts was Hogwarts?"

"Yup."

"And that he took out that tiny little package that he didn't want anyone to know about?"

"Mm-hmm. You think it's under that trapdoor, don't you?"

"...Yeah."

"Good," Percy said, rolling over, taking his socks off and throwing them onto the ceiling, "You're starting to think smart, not hard. G'night Harry."

"Night Perce."

 _The rain was lashing down onto him as he ran up the hill, carrying the goat boy with him._

" _Foooooood," the satyr moaned._

" _Percy!" a middle-aged woman called from down the hill, "Get across the property line; you'll be safe there!"_

" _Mom! Come with me!" he cried back._

" _People like me can't do that, Percy!"_

 _Suddenly, a hulking mass of hair and muscle appeared from the country road below them, making its way up the grassy incline. A violent flash of lightning illuminated its features._

" _It's the minot-"_

" _Do not say his name," his mom yelled, "For names have power."_

 _The minotaur roared and ran towards the sound of the woman's voice. She tried to sidestep the beast, but the move was anticipated and the man-bull stretched out its arm and grabbed her by the throat._

" _Mom!" he screamed._

 _She looked into his eyes with her teary ones and mouthed one last word: "GO!"_

 _The minotaur squeezed its meaty fist and his mother dissolved into golden, swept away by the strong winds. The terror on her face etched into his mind._

" _NO!"_

 _Suddenly, he no longer felt weak. He was going to avenge his mother. He had to._

 _He dumped the goat-boy to the side and backed up to the large pine tree on the top of the hill._

" _Hey! Ground Beef!" he yelled, his voice cracking._

 _It snorted and charged in his direction. Just before it made contact with him, he jumped, using the monster's face as a booster. Its momentum sent it crashing into the tree._

 _Dazed, and with him on its back, it stumbled around, trying to shake him off. He gripped one of the horns on the top of its head tightly and pulled with all of his strength._

 _With a stomach churning roar of pain, the boy was thrown off, with the horn in hand._

 _The minotaur charged once more. The boy sidestepped and thrust its own horn into the side of its ribs. It slowly disintegrated into dust._

 _Left with only the horn, he pulled the satyr through the pouring rain and over the hill. He saw the lights of a building and staggered in that direction._

 _He passed out on the porch, the pretty face of a honey-blonde haired girl looking over him._

* * *

 _ **Wow, it's been waaaaaaay too long. I have exams this week; this was probably not the best idea I've had.**_

 _ **There has been a bit of confusion about the time frame. To clear this up, PJO happened about a century before HP. I won't be using years if I can, 'cos that'll make things weird. Either PJO will be too far into the past, or HP will be too far in the future for the stories to make sense. So don't think too much of it.**_

 _ **To that guy who questioned about Ollivander knowing who Percy Jackson was, no one else knows who he is because Ollivander is old as fuck.**_

 _ **To all of you who review: Thanks a bunch! You make me more motivated to write (although it doesn't seem like it does it XD). Keep on reviewing, please?!**_

 _ **See you next time (probably sooner than last time)**_

 _ **DarwinAGS**_

 _ **(P.S. I'm looking for a beta, if anyone is interested. PM me if you are)**_


	9. Mountain Trolls for Dessert

**I've made my point. I own nothing.**

* * *

Draco was in shock when he saw the trio eating their breakfast at the Gryffindor table. Moreso when he saw them grinning and laughing; tired and with bags around their eyes but happy.

Harry and Ron were in fact still buzzing from the misadventures of the night before. They couldn't wait for their next adventure to happen. The adrenaline from their encounter with the well-dubbed 'Cerberus' had caught up with them, and they were essentially toddlers high on sugar.

Percy was a little more subdued. Whilst he was excited for what their next expedition would bring, his dreams had been...intriguing to say the least. They were familiar, yet not. He was thinking that he should probably note down everything of a similar nature down to explore these visions.

He recalled the strange dreams of his childhood and the unexplainable view of this other Percy who fought some Greek myth. The thing that hit him the strangest of all these happenings was the small shocks that he got with certain people: Hermione, Ron and Ginny alongside Harry (which wasn't a small shock at all, not really).

Thinking back on it, Neville Longbottom too. At the time, he had more things on his mind when he had been crushed by his fellow Gryffindor, but in hindsight, he was almost certain that a pulse had shot through his body.

'Later' he thought to himself. It would not do well to zone out and think about these things in public.

Ron was filled in on the conversation the brothers had shared last night. They told him about the tiny package that was the target of the break-in at Gringotts. They couldn't get very far. All they could say about it was that it was three inches long at most, but most likely very important and/or extremely dangerous.

Unlike the boys, Hermione and Neville were not as inspired by the events of the last night. Hermione refused to speak of the hound or the trapdoor and all Neville was concerned about was never going anywhere near the third floor corridor ever again.

In fact, Hermione was so livid she was off speaking terms with Harry and Ron, and only engaged with Percy in conversation. Ron was delighted with this, extending his excitement for the coming days.

A unanimous plot of action between the boys was the revenge on Draco. Even though still attending the school was infuriating him already, they felt the need to get even. They just had to wait for the right chance.

Fortunately, this chance came within the week.

In the middle of shovelling various cereals down their gullets, two school owls dropped two long packages in front of the boys. Lavender Brown squeaked at the bang it caused after the impact with the table.

The parcels came with a letter attached for the twins. It had 'READ FIRST' in big, bold letters on the envelope.

After releasing the letter from the envelope, they saw that it was from their Head of House:

Do not open the parcels at the table. They contain your new Nimbus 2000s, which you will use in the upcoming quidditch season. Do not let the public know this, as the Hogwarts rumour mill will most likely circulate an unfounded story. Oliver Wood will meet you this evening at 7 o'clock on the quidditch field.

Ron looked at the brooms in awe, "Amazing! The Nimbus is the newest, fastest model yet. How did you get McGonagall to get you those? They're the most expensive thing in Diagon Alley!"

The brothers raised an eyebrow at him simultaneously, causing him to redden.

"I don't know Ron," Harry answered, "It's hard to tell, but she has always favoured us over most people, especially you Perce."

"Yeah, she was surprisingly affectionate when she told us about our dad."

They all glanced at the teachers' table to see McGonagall quickly avert her eyes from the Gryffindor table.

"Anyway, let's go back to the dorm to open it," Ron said, "We've got at least twenty minutes before History of Magic."

The boys nodded and quickly finished off their meals. Percy said a quick goodbye to Hermione who was telling Neville the basic differences between goblins and house elves. They sped off towards the entrance of the Great Hall. They were almost sprinting to Gryffindor Tower. They were ascending their second flight of stairs when:

"What have you got there _Potter_?"

Great. Just great.

Draco ripped the broom out of Harry's hands and inspected it.

"This is a broom Potter," he drawled, inciting the idiotic guffaws of his two goons.

"Congratulations on stating the obvious, you fuckwit!" Percy responded with fake enthusiasm.

"You know the rules," he snarled, "You're not supposed to have brooms. You are screwed!"

Harry grinned, "Is it just me, or are you getting deja vu?"

"I am, brother dearest," Percy replied, his smirk growing with Malfoy's anger, "If only there was a teacher on hand. Oh! Good morning, Professor Flitwick!"

The Snakes turned to see their pint-sized Charms teacher appearing at Draco's elbow.

"We're not arguing, are we boys?" he squeaked.

Draco's face was red from anger as he regained his cocky expression, "The Potters have broomsticks Professor."

"Oh yes!" Flitwick exclaimed, "McGonagall told me about your special exception. Nimbuses, correct?"

The trio were stifling laughter at Draco's dropped jaw and unbelieving, wide eyes.

"Yes sir, and it is because of our good friend Draco here that we have them really." Percy said sarcastically, lunging forward and gripping Malfoy in a tight bear hug, before he reclaimed Harry broom and raced off upstairs, laughing all the way.

"I suppose it's true," Harry gasped, amidst the laughter, "If he hadn't have taken Neville's remembrall and been a prat, we never would have got on the team!"

"So that's what you think it is," a shrill voice pierced through their joy, "A reward for breaking the rules?"

Hermione stormed up the stairs behind them.

"I thought you weren't talking to us now," Ron retorted, glaring at her, "Don't stop, it's been so good for us."

"Ron, just...be quiet," Percy intervened, "Look we appreciate how lucky we were given the circumstances we put ourselves in, Hermione. We were just celebrating that we got to rub it in Draco's royal, scumbag face. You have got to sympathize with us because of that, right."

Hermione's face flushed. Harry felt like she had become a tad bit flustered, and was awfully skeptical of one of the reasons why.

"I will admit, that Malfoy has not been anything verging on kind, especially to me, but that doesn't give you an excuse to feel the necessity to brag over the cursed fruits of broken rules!" she tried to lecture.

Ron snorted and spun on his heel, dragging Harry along with him. Hermione's face was as red as a tomato.

"Ignore him, Hermione," Percy said, "He won't listen to anyone. In some sense, I suppose that he has an arrogance on par with Malfoy's."

Hermione giggled behind her hand, "Someone just needs to put some manners into him, then he wouldn't be as insufferable."

"Please, no!" Percy replied, feigning terror, "We don't need another Percy Weasley!"

Hermione looked at him strangely, "What's wrong with Percy Weasley?"

Percy laughed as he walked away, shaking his head good-naturedly.

* * *

"Well, damn!"

Percy had caught up with Ron and Harry just as they were entering the common room. They rushed past a few third years finishing some homework and raced up the stairs. The second they had reached their room, they slammed the door shut and tore the packaging off their brooms.

Even though they had never even considered what a racing broom would look like before their birthday, they knew that what lay in front of them was absolute class.

A pristine, straight wooden handle with a bend in it near the middle, presumably for the rider to sit on. Neat straight twigs emerged out of the end, not a single one out of place. In a cursive golden font, _Nimbus 2000_ was carefully inscribed at the top of the handle.

They spent so long gazing at them in awe, they ended up being five minutes late for History of Magic. However, due to Binn's incompetence at his job, they managed to sneak in with only a scolding glare from Hermione. Harry and Percy couldn't learn anything that lesson, even more so than normal, hyperactive in anticipation for that evening.

This lasted throughout the entire day, and it got to the point where the boys left half an hour early (sacrificing some of Harry's Transfiguration homework) to go down to the field and try out their new brooms.

They got changed into some comfortable clothes and sprinted out the castle walls. A long, winding path took them downhill to a stadium.

Harry had never actually been to the Quidditch field before, and what was before him confused him and excited him simultaneously. An oval sized pitch marked with a halfway line was in front of the brothers, surrounded by large wooden stands and tall towers. It was similar to their first location of broom riding, but on a much bigger scale.

At each end of the field, there were three large hoops on poles about thirty metres in the air, one higher than the other two.

Harry looked over to his brother for some guidance of sorts, as he had spotted him reading the _Quidditch Through The Ages_ book whilst he was eating his sandwiches at lunch. Percy was looking at the loops and had some crazy grin on his face.

He mounted his broom and kicked off the ground with gusto, the wind whipping around his face. Harry quickly followed him to the skies and together they flew around the stadium. Harry couldn't help but notice how much easier it was for him to fly the nimbus than the old school supplied broom. It moved faster and turned quicker.

Percy, of course, couldn't stop himself from showing off a little. Harry once saw him slow his broom down as he descended to the trenches that surrounded the pitch. He let the broom drift through the trench as he leapt from wooden beam to wooden beam, laughing as he went.

Soon, they heard a loud clap from the entrance of the stadium and flew down towards the from of the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. Oliver Wood was wearing a bulky maroon sports kit with what seemed like light leather armour around his chest.

"I understand why Professor McGonagall referred you to me," he praised, "You both have amazing talent! And you say that is only your second time on a broom?"

The boys blushed.

"Tonight, I'll just be explaining the rules. Then you'll have the team practices every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday at 7pm with everyone else."

They nodded, "I thought you already knew the rules, Percy?"

"Nah," he responded, signifying the hoops, "I just know what those are 'cos of the pictures. _Quidditch Through The Ages_ just kinda had the records and stuff like that."

Oliver opened the crate to reveal four balls and a few straps.

"Quidditch is a game that is easy enough to understand, but is considerably less easy to play. You need to have co-ordination, skill, pace and teamwork. The team itself consists of seven players. There are three chasers."

He pointed at Percy, "Along with Katie and Angelina, this is you," he reached into the crate and pulled out a red ball about the size of a football. It bent inwards on two sides which looked like they made the ball easier to hold.

"The chasers play with the quaffle," Oliver said, raising the accused ball, "The quaffle is the most muggle thing in Quidditch, as it doesn't have any enchantments or the like. The chasers have to work together to throw the quaffle through any of the three hoops. Doing so scores ten points."

Percy nodded in affirmation and Harry repeated every thing he said to ensure he remembered it.

"So it's kinda like basketball, then," Percy said. Wood stared at him blankly, before Percy face-palmed and said, "Nevermind, it's a muggle sport."

"Carrying on," cue the strange look towards Percy, "The chasers have to get the quaffle past the keeper, who defends the hoops. That would be me."

He reached down into the crate and gave a short baseball bat to Percy and Harry.

"These bats belong to the beaters, who are George and Fred Weasley. They are enchanted to have more hitting power than normal. I would recommend that you watch out."

He released one of the other balls, which, along with another of the same shape and size, were struggling against the restraints keeping it in. Immediately, it shot violently and haphazardly into the air before zipping towards the brothers.

Harry closed his eyes and gave a startled 'eep' sound and swung his club as hard as he could. The ball was hit and flew as straight as an arrow into the evening sky before rocketing back down towards them.

Oliver followed its every move as it got closer before leaping onto it and wrestling it back into the crate.

After regaining his breath, he continued to teach them about Quidditch.

"That was a bludger. In a game, there are two of those causing havoc on the pitch. But don't worry too much about them, the Weasley twins' job is to keep them away from the team and to hit them towards the opposition. They're pretty reliable. I would even go as to say that they're a pair of human bludgers themselves!"

"If someone does get hit by one…", Harry started. Oliver shook his head.

"Don't worry, I haven't heard about anyone dying at a school Quidditch game. I've had my fair share of broken shoulders and fallen off my broom because of them, but they're enchanted not to go fast enough to deal any damage that Madam Pomfrey couldn't heal in less than ten minutes."

Harry let loose a breath of relief and averted his eyes to the crate. There was one last ball that Oliver was yet to talk about.

It was small: no larger than a walnut and a beautiful gold colour. It shone in the sunlight and had wings that looked more fragile than thin glass.

Oliver picked it up, "This is the golden snitch, the most important ball in the game. It is your job as a seeker to catch it."

He hastily put it pack in the crate as it's wings twitched, "When you catch this, you earn your team one hundred and fifty points. It also ends the game, which usually means that if you catch the snitch, you win the game."

"There's no other way to win?" Harry questioned.

"Unless a team forfeits, then no," Oliver clarified, "There was once a game that went on for three weeks because the seekers couldn't catch the snitch. They had to keep bringing on subs so that the players could sleep."

"I read about that," Percy inputted, "Wasn't the score about fifty thousand each?"

Oliver shrugged, "Something like that."

He glanced up at the sky, "I don't think there's enough time for any proper practice now because the Ravenclaws get the field for tryouts in half an hour, so we'll use these," he hoisted up a bag of golf balls, "for you Harry, and I'll get in the goal to try out some shots with Percy later."

Harry got back onto his broom and waited for Oliver to throw the first ball. Instantly, he made chase with the ball as he saw it slowly start to curve back down to the ground. Just before it was about to hit the ground, he caught it in the palm of his hand. He dropped it at the feet of Oliver and Percy before racing off into the sky after another golf ball.

He felt proud that he had only missed a few, and out of the many that he didn't miss, only one or two were dropped.

After his training, he gave Percy the quaffle (who had been seeing if he could juggle five golf balls) and flew off towards the hoops.

"What you are going to do is try to score," he instructed, "Harry, can you be behind the goal for when he scores?"

When they had all taken position, Percy began launching the quaffle towards the goal.

Safe to say, Harry was needed a lot.

Night was falling when the Ravenclaws came to the pitch and forcefully evicted the Gryffindors. Bright lights illuminated the stadium as they walked back up to the castle.

"If we don't win the Quidditch Cup this year, well I'll...I don't know what I'd do. You two have only got incapacitation as an excuse for missing anything Quidditch related. Honestly Harry, Charlie Weasley would be proud of you; you're almost as good as him and he could have played for England if he wanted to. And Percy, when they offer you a contract, say you want more. I don't think there will ever be a chaser as good as you can be."

Feeling extremely happy with themselves, they rushed back to the Gryffindor common room, discarding their brooms in their designated place in the locker rooms.

Harry raced up to his room to tell Ron everything about their training session while Percy flopped onto the sofa in front of the fire, pulling off his shoes and sticking his feet towards the hearth.

"You had fun then?"

Percy turned to Hermione, whose brow was furrowed as she checked her charms homework.

"You know the rush you get when you read one of your books?" Percy said, staring into the flames.

She snorted, "I swear, Perseus Potter, you are the only person in this house who appreciates who I am."

Percy laughed, drawing the attention of a third year struggling over a Runes assignment.

"I've been part of this community for, what, a couple of months? I didn't need too long to know that most of them hate change."

Hermione sighed and packed away her parchment, "And what makes me so different to them?"

Percy grabbed his shoes and headed off towards the dormitories, "One day, you're gonna realise that being different is your biggest advantage. Look at me: I do what I want and the rules aren't going to stop me anytime soon."

As he left, she stopped herself from defending the rule book. From their various conversations, she had learnt that even though she was stubborn, he was on a whole different level.

* * *

 **Dear Perseus,**

 **I had no idea that you had to live your childhood the way you did. I suppose that has to do with the fact that I had no idea you existed either. Though I can kind of sympathise that you had no long lasting contact with anyone. I never really spent that much time with my family and apart from them I don't really know anyone except for the Lovegoods and the Diggorys and my friend Beth, who turns up out of the blue every now and then. She's homeless; maybe you know her?**

 **I'm happy that Ron got into Gryffindor, though extremely irritated that he hasn't put any effort into contacting mum or me at all. I can picture you slapping him and saying 'Ginny sends her regards, write home idiot!'**

 **Whilst I really want to get into Gryffindor when I finally go to Hogwarts, at the same time I don't. My mum says that the whole family always has, but hasn't the whole family just been boys? I mean, I'm the first girl to be a Weasley by blood, not by marriage. Why can't I be a Ravenclaw? (But not Slytherin, dear Morgana not Slytherin!)**

 **You know, I'm just sitting here at nine o'clock in my room by my window, thinking 'I want to write, but I don't know what to write'.**

 **I feel like asking a few questions. Maybe we could do that every time so that even if we don't have much to talk about, we can talk about something!**

 **-What complications were there with the sorting?**

 **-What do you get up to in your spare time?**

 **-How's Harry? (say hello for me!)**

 **-Would you tell me what happened when you were six? (If it's personal, who am I kidding it's definitely personal, you don't have to tell me.)**

 **Er...bye I suppose (*cringe*)**

 **Ginny**

Ginny put down her quill and looked over her letter. It seemed so...naff; nothing she should send to a person like him. She sighed, rubbing her face.

Her gut was telling her that the content was fine, so she opened the window and let in her owl Errol. She stroked him a few times before he offered his leg. She reached over for her letter and a piece of ribbon. She rolled up the parchment before tying it to Errol's leg.

Her owl nipped her ear in affection before flying out into the night. As she blew out the candle and climbed into the bed, she couldn't help but picture the boy who had nearly crashed into her at King's Cross Station.

Nor could she help the small blush that crossed her face.

* * *

Between the mountains of homework he was given and the many Quidditch practices, Harry barely realised that it was nearly November..

Percy had got all mushy on him and told him it was the effect of finding his geographical home and started explaining that his proper home was still waiting for him somewhere.

Harry thought a bit about that a few days later. He had only been at Hogwarts for about two months, but it was a better home than 4 Privet Drive ever fucking was.

Halloween came, and the smell of baking pumpkin pies could even be smelt from the common room. Ron, Dean, Seamus, Neville and Harry raced downstairs for a so-called Halloween breakfast, which was basically enchanted halloween themed ghost toast which would occasionally disappear and such things like that.

Percy came down much later than usual. His uniform was impeccable like always, but he looked like shit.

His sea green eyes had lost most of their mirth. He had dark lines under his eyes and his hair looked like a rat's nest instead of the stylish mess it usually was.

"Are you alright mate?" Ron asked as the cereal he was pouring turned into bats and flew away.

"Didn't get sleep - nightmares and shit…"

His head slammed down into his bowl of porridge. The entire hall looked at him before breakfast continued as normal.

He slowly raised his head and felt the porridge.

"Fuck…" he murmured tiredly, before getting up and leaving the Great Hall to clean up, followed by the concerned eyes of his friends.

He was a couple of minutes late to Charms, but he was at least cleaner and a little bit more awake.

"Where were you Mr Potter?" Professor Flitwick asked as the class turned towards the door.

"Medical Wing...Had a headache and stuff." he replied without any enthusiasm.

Flitwick split the class into pairs. Harry was put with Seamus (despite the desperate look Neville, who was partnered with Dean, was exchanging between the professor and Harry) and Percy was paired with a small blonde girl with glasses called Sally Anne-Perks, who had got a small case of Dragon Pox just before coming to Hogwarts and had spent September recovering in St. Mungos.

Ron had been put with Hermione, which neither had been butterflies and rainbows about.

Flitwick announced that they had learnt enough theory on the levitation charm to be able to practice it. A similar thing had occurred earlier in the year after learning the summoning charm _Accio_. Not many people had succeeded then.

"Remember students, swish and flick," Flitwick gave some last minute advice before they attempted it, "Pronounce your words clearly; don't be like the wizard Baruffio who said 'f' instead of 's' and got squashed by a buffalo!"

Cries of _Wingardium Leviosa_ erupted throughout the room accompanied with pitiful swishing and pathetic flicking.

Percy was staring off into the distance while Sally tried her go at the spell. Percy, even though he wasn't watching her, spouted encouragement and improvements to her. She took them to heart, get closer with each try.

Harry was not having too much success. At most his feather was quivering on the spot. He looked over to Neville's desk and saw that Dean had accidentally set their feather on fire.

" _Wingardium Leviosa! Wingardium Leviosa!_ " Ron yelled at the feather.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Hermione interrupted, "You're saying it all wrong. It's _Wingardium Levi-O-sa_ , not _Levio-sar_."

"You do it then!" Ron snarled, making Hermione jump, "If you're so clever!"

Hermione rolled up her sleeves and moistened her lips.

" _Wingardium Leviosa!_ "

The feather shakily floated off the table and into the air, following Hermione's wand movement towards the ceiling.

Professor Flitwick laughed good-naturedly, "Look class! Miss Granger's got it! Five points to Gryffindor!"

Hermione blushed as Ron scowled and glared at her.

After a few more minutes, Percy's dull voice was heard, "Sally's got it, Professor."

The half goblin rushed over to see that Sally's feather was hovering a few inches off the table.

"Another five points to Gryffindor! Well done!"

Percy sat up straight and whispered the incantation. The feather floated up and got stuck on a wooden beam.

"If you don't mind professor, I would like to leave. Unlike Harry, I have the misfortune of remembering this day."

Flitwick gave his retreating from a sad expression before turning to the rest of the class and continuing to aid those still attempting the charm.

Harry saw a flash of green as his brother closed the door. He had a small idea why he was so upset and unrested now.

Before long, Flitwick dismissed the remainder of the class. Ron was extremely pissed as they filed out of the classroom and across one of the courtyards to Herbology.

"Know it all!" he exclaimed angrily, "Honestly, she's a bloody nightmare! No wonder no one can stand her!"

They were knocked aside as a certain bushy-haired someone rushed past. Harry caught a glance of her face and was startled to see her crying as she clutched her books tightly.

"I think she heard you Ron," he stated.

"So?" Ron tried to defend himself, though he looked terribly uncomfortable with everyone's eyes on him, "She must have noticed she has no friends."

"Way to go Weasley," Parvati sneered as she dragged Lavender in Hermione's direction. Harry looked after them, hoping that they caught up with her.

Percy was going to have a serious word with Ron, and it probably wouldn't be pretty.

* * *

Percy was sitting on top of the Astronomy Tower, his legs dangling off the edge. It was still day, so he could have the day alone before Vector came up to teach.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The fatal scream of his mother rang through his mind and robbed him of peace.

They had started to call him fearless at school. He wasn't scared of heights. He wasn't scared of the Slytherins. He was the only one who Snape couldn't control with his withering stare of doom.

Percy freaking Potter didn't run from anything. That's what the masses thought.

Unbeknownst to them, he was also running. He ran from his past, he ran from his memories.

 _He ran from himself_.

"Percy?"

He didn't need to turn around.

"Hello Hermione," he greeted, eerily calm, "Sit with me?"

She slowly approached the edge, before lowering herself next to Percy. He could feel her tears on her face and on her sleeves.

"W-What are you doing here?" she shakily asked.

"I come here to relax," he answered, his eyes closed still, "No one comes up here. No one interrupts me. It's just me and the wind."

Hermione looked down at the castle. The students were all starting to head towards the Great Hall for dinner. She was feeling horribly hungry, as she had not had anything to eat since breakfast. But she couldn't attend dinner, because-

"Ron would be there."

"Excuse me? Did you just-"

"Telecommunication is something I have managed to develop, but only between select people such as yourself," Percy explained, a serene yet tired look on his face, "That night in the trophy room with Filch? I never told you to get back, I thought it."

Hermione blinked, not really sure how to comprehend that.

"How do you do that?" she asked.

Percy's lips twitched at the corners, "There are secrets that everyone has. Maybe one day I will tell you."

' _When I can fully understand them…'_

* * *

As it turned out, no one actually really saw Hermione, or for the matter Percy, for the rest of the day.

The only sighting of her had been when Lavender had needed to go to the toilet during their last lesson and saw Hermione crying in the girls' toilets. When they went back later to try to talk to her, she had gone elsewhere.

Ron had been unsettled and uncomfortable all day and wouldn't stop wringing his hands.

By the time the dubbed 'Samhain Supper' arose, there were still no encounters with either of the missing Gryffindors, but the decorations in the Great Hall immediately put the two out of their minds.

Animated jack-o-lanterns were all over the place, scaring people as they walked past. The candles that were suspended over the tables were much dimmer and cast an ominous green glow over the Hall. Enchanted bat stickers would come to life, fly amongst the candles and stick themselves back onto the walls again.

Harry was helping himself to his third serving of pumpkin pie when the doors burst open and conversation ceased.

The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Quirrell, ran straight towards the staff table, clutching at the cloth wrapped his head. His heavy footfalls and breath were the only sounds in the large room.

"TROLL!" he screamed, "TROLL IN THE DUNGEON!"

The school looked at the teacher with horror as he stopped in front of the headmaster.

"Thought you ought to know."

As his brittle form collapsed to the hard stone ground, pandemonium broke out amongst the students.

It took Dumbledore a heavily amplified voice to temporarily retain order.

"Prefects!" he called, using the _Sonorus_ charm, "Take your houses back to the common rooms. The food will be brought there."

The crowd rushed towards the door in a panic to get to safety. Percival was in his element, commanding and directing the students towards their respective commons rooms.

Just as they were about to leave the Hall, Ron tugged on Harry's sleeve.

"What is it Ron?"

His face flushed red as he mumbled something quietly.

"What?"

"Hermione, Harry!" Ron blurted, face burning as bright as a sack of beets, "She doesn't know about the troll."

Harry thought about it for a moment, before shaking his head, "As much as I think that we should do that, we have no idea where she is,"

Ron hung his head, "Oh yeah…"

They followed the crowd for a few more minutes before Ron gasped.

"Look over there!" he pointed at a figure subtly leaving the crowd, "Why's Snape running off?"

Harry grinned, "Adventure time!"

They ducked under the radar of Percival and took off in pursuit of Snape. Before long though, he had disappeared from their sight.

"Where could he have been going?" Harry cursed.

"I recognise this section slightly," Ron said, looking around, "Didn't we run that way before running into that Cerberus?"

They met eyes, "He's going to the Third Floor Corridor!"

Just before they could move, a rancid smell intruded their nostrils, causing them to cease their efforts to catch up to Snape. They gagged as they ducked behind a pillar, covering their noses and mouths with their robes.

Harry tried to signal Ron to go take a look around the corner, but he was too busy throwing up to listen to him, so Harry peeked his head into the corridor.

About ten metres away, a large, grotesque creature stood, scratching its hairy arse with one hand and grasping a huge club with the other.

" _It's the troll!_ " Harry whispered to Ron, who had somewhat managed to compose himself. He took a look for himself and noticed it crouching under a doorway, somehow passing through the small passage.

Harry quickly slammed the door shut. Just his luck; the key also happened to be in the lock, which he turned and hastily discarded of.

The two boys let out the breaths they didn't know they were holding. Ron checked the sign above the door.

"Astronomy tower?" Ron read, "That's great. It's a dead end. Let's go and find a teacher or someone who can sort this out."

They began to walk back to the Gryffindor common room. Suddenly, they could hear Percy inside their heads.

" _Hello?"_

"Percy?" Ron exclaimed, spinning around so fast that Harry was amazed he didn't get whiplash, "What the bloody hell?"

" _Telepathy, Ron," Percy groaned, "Big-fucking-whoop. Get over it. I think there are bigger problems at stake, right?_ "

Harry and Ron nodded.

Silence.

" _Am I correct in assuming you both fucking nodded?" Percy sighed, "I'm telepathic, not omnipresent! Why is everyone out of dinner?_ "

"Apparently Quirrell found something in the dungeons and everyone has been sent back to the common rooms," Harry clarified, "Where are you anyway?"

" _I've been on the Astronomy Tower all day._ "

The boys stared at each other.

"Fuck."

* * *

"This is your definition of SOMETHING Harry?!" Percy screamed, "A FUCKING mountain troll?"

"It's not my goddamn fault!" Harry yelled in reply, ducking under a wild swipe from the troll, "I didn't ask for a freaking troll to be in the school! Why is it even here?"

"Ask me something I do know!"

They scattered behind different pillars.

Percy skidded next to Hermione, "Oh hey. How's it hanging?"

"Percy Potter we are going to get slaughtered by this troll," she scolded, while curling her knees into her chest, tears flowing freely, "I'm not okay right now!"

"That's understandable," Percy said, sneaking a glance around the corner, "Listen, I've got a plan. You need to do two things: swear to not mention these coming events to anyone without my permission and find Ron and stick together, no matter if he's being a cunt or not. Got it?"

The bushy haired girl nodded her head and scrambled on her hands and knees, switching between cover, looking for the redhead.

"OI!" Percy yelled, waving his arms and diverting the troll's attention. As it turned its head, a string of slimy boogers flew out of its nose.

"Ew. Gross."

The troll roared and rampaged towards Percy, who rolled out of harm's way. He could see Harry now, hidden close by.

"Go downstairs if you can, find one of those swords from a suit of armour and get back here as soon as you can," he instructed.

Harry stared at him, "But you already have a sword?"

"I'm going to use it Harry! I need an alibi; the less people who know about it, the better."

Harry raced towards the door and into the tower. Percy made sure that the troll had its full attention away from his brother.

He pulled out Riptide and rubbed it with his thumb. He flicked off the lid and the beautiful bronze blade glowed in dim light of dusk.

"Come on dipshit. Come meet your maker."

He charged at the beast, followed by the awed and confused eyes of Hermione and Ron. He wielded the sword expertly, as if he had been training all of his life. In reality, he was relying on pure instinct and a bit of luck.

He cut the troll open with many quick slices across its body, but it didn't seem to be slowing down much. Instead, it seemed to be getting angrier.

Unfortunately, Percy was sent flying across the floor by a wild swipe with the club. The wind was knocked out of him and he lost his grip on Riptide.

He slid towards the edge of the tower, his sword sent spiralling down towards the Black Lake miles below him. He fell over the side, his ADHD saving him, giving him enough reaction time to grab onto the edge before he followed Riptide.

He could hear Hermione scream from above him as his arms burnt in agony. Powered by the fear of what could become of his friends, he managed to heave himself back to safety.

Suddenly, before he could take a breather, a large grubby hand wrapped itself around his throat and upper body, cutting off his air supply.

His vision started to become blurry as the troll grinned evilly down at him.

* * *

"We-we need to help him!" Hermione cried as she watched her friend get manhandled by the beast.

"I don't know what to do! You're the smart one!" Ron replied, fear laced heavily in his voice as he frantically thought of anything that could help.

They watched in horror as Percy's struggles began to slow down.

Harry burst through the door, brandishing a steel sword from the stairwell. He stabbed it into the back of the troll's knee as far as he could.

A gut-wrenching roar of pain erupted from the beast. It loosened its hold on Percy slightly, who pulled out his pen (which had returned to his pocket after a small delay) and swung upwards with his sword.

With a brutal ' _shink'_ , the troll's hand fell, separated at the wrist from the rest of its body, to the floor of the Astronomy Tower. Percy landed limply, collapsed and out of energy. In blind fury, the creature raised its club above its head with its remaining hand to smash Percy into a grease spot.

" _Wingardium Leviosa!_ "

The troll brought down its arm, but its weapon remained where it was, floating above it. Harry stared at Ron, who was shaking like paper in the wind, his wand pointed.

The troll looked up. The club came down.

It dropped to the floor with a colossal thud, shaking the tower. It was out cold.

Harry, Hermione and Ron rushed over to Percy, who was lying prone in a puddle of troll blood.

Hermione checked his pulse on his wrist, "He's alive."

They all released their breath. Harry looked around at the surroundings. Remembering what Percy had told him earlier, he disposed of Percy's sword by throwing it towards the lake and replaced it with the sword he had got downstairs.

"What are doing?" Ron asked, shaken by the events that occurred and the amount of blood that had amassed on the observatory, "Where did he get that sword?"

Harry paused, "It's...not my place to tell, I think," he replied gently, his voice quavering, "I'm amazed you managed to get the levitation spell right."

"Well, Hermione basically crash coursed me on it, 'cos she was too frightened to do it. With good reason," he answered, a tinge of red crossing his face, "I basically just listened to what she was telling me to do."

Soon, the teachers came through the door. Professor Sinistra almost immediately threw up when she saw the blood and the mess.

"What happened here?" McGonagall demanded, wide-eyed at the sight. She noticed Percy and looked like she was resisting the urge to rush over.

They all looked at each, lost for words.

"I believe, if someone could help me up, I could answer that."

Percy was struggling to sit up as Flitwick came along to help, skirting around the blood.

"Hermione and I were up here separating ourselves from the masses. I was trying to cope with today and all that it entails, and Hermione...well, there were issues which I hope are now resolved."

Percy sent a pointed glare at Ron, who stared at his stained shoes.

"We had no idea that there was a troll and Ron and Harry came to find us. I was just defending myself and Hermione," he added, showing the sword in his hand.

" _Thanks for switching them Harry."_

"It's good that you didn't kill it," Professor Sprout said, trying to see the good side of the situation, "It wouldn't be good if you were to be a murderer at age eleven."

An extremely awkward silence followed.

"If you would...erm...head on back to the common room, we'll handle this from here," McGonagall said, "50 points for Gryffindor for bravery in the face of...imminent doom."

Everyone just stared at each other.

"Cool."

* * *

They were all, needless to say, not in the mood for eating and walked straight past everyone in the common room who was enjoying dinner. They ignored their awe-struck yet horrified faces as they saw them covered almost head to toe in blood.

They sat on the floor of the boys' dorm.

"So I guess you'd like to know about this," Percy said, breaking the silence as he brought out Anaklusmos and uncapped it.

Ron and Hermione's eyes opened wider than dinner plates.

"Funny story actually, found it behind some alcohol in Diagon Alley."

He passed the sword, hilt first, to Hermione who studied the sword intently. Ron was next to her, doing the same thing.

"Riptide," they both murmured as they saw the engraving on the blade. Harry and Percy shared a look. Somehow, they as well seemed to have a natural instinct for Greek.

"Seriously, this is a big secret," Percy said, taking back his sword and reverting it to pen form, "You cannot tell anyone about this. Not yet."

The two nodded in understanding. Questions would be asked, and the Hogwarts rumour mill would spin.

"Now that that's sorted out; Ron, why don't you tell us why you decided to be a grade A douchebag?" Percy said, turning the tides on Ron, who stared at his bloody shoes.

"I was...jealous," he muttered in embarrassment, "I've known about magic all my life and she's better than me."

Hermione's jaw dropped. She didn't know he saw her that way.

Percy glared at Ron, trying to locate any deception.

"You realise no one gives a shit about how much you know?" Percy said, "Hermione and I just beast-mode everything. You take everything slower and there's nothing wrong with that."

He placed a hand on Ron's shoulder.

"Even though that's really cool of you to say, I feel slightly insulted."

"I know. That was the intended effect."

* * *

A hot shower had done them all justice, and the troll blood came off relatively easy. Their clothes had to be washed so they were stuck with spares until the weekend.

Harry and Ron fell asleep, once again, almost immediately. Percy checked the time as he sat on the ceiling. Ten o'clock.

He was tapping Riptide against the wooden planks. He was trying to concentrate but couldn't shake off his jitters.

He flipped onto the floor and threw the window open.

It was a still night; no wind swept into the room. All he could hear were the occasional, faint splashes of water from the creatures in the lake.

He remembered Agathos the little fish he had found on his first day. His family had taken to adoring the half-blood and had apparently earned him quite the reputation in the Black Lake.

He shook his head, laughing quietly. He shut the window (he didn't want the room to get too cold for the others) and sat down at his desk thinking about what to write.

Eventually, he decided that spontaneity was the answer and just put pen to paper.

* * *

 **Dear Ginny,**

 **Being homeless is better than dead, isn't it though? Honestly, if I had been brought up like Harry, I wouldn't know the many things that I know now. Living on the streets brings its own wisdom to life; you might not understand, because I can explain it.**

 **Ask your friend Beth about it, she probably knows about it too if she is a hermit crab-like hobo like I was. (I don't think I bumped into a Beth, but I did know this girl called Ellie (We constantly change names in case we get caught; I once called myself Peter). Describe her for me, I'll see if I can recognise her).**

 **Ron 'politely' asks you to stop requesting me to harass him. I did exactly as you said in your last letter: Harry was in stitches!**

 **I completely understand why you want to be different. Blending in sucks big time. People can't help but like me because I don't conform to society's boundaries. By all means, be a Ravenclaw. Don't let Percival the Prefect stop you from doing as you please.**

 **Regarding your questions:**

 **-Basically, because the wizarding world forgot I existed, I wasn't on the list, but that got sorted (ha! puns!) out really quick.**

 **-Hell, I do what I want. Homework usually. They set so much it's unreal! But apart from that I have taken a liking to Wizard's Chess, despite its barbaric nature.**

 **-Harry's doing great! He's trying his best but he was never meant for learning. He just enjoys living in the moment, maybe as much as I. (okay, maybe not that much, but you get my point). To be fair to him, we outran Filch in the middle of the night and fought a mountain troll on the Astronomy Tower, so he's pretty pumped, and so am I!**

 **-That's difficult. It is really personal and I feel like that would be better if I recited my tale of woe in person. I think that I will tell you, just not now.**

 **My questions?**

 **-What was it like growing up in a wizarding society?**

 **-Do Fred and George spend their free time learning how to do that duo-talk thing?**

 **-Can you tell me about your older brothers (Bill and Charlie? I think those were their names)**

 **Yours truly,**

 **Percy**

Percy put down his pen and looked over his letter. It seemed so...naff; nothing he should send to a person like her. He sighed, rubbing his face.

His gut was telling him that the content was fine, so he opened the window and let in his owl Theseus. He stroked him a few times before he offered his leg. He reached over for his letter and a piece of ribbon. He rolled up the parchment before tying it to Theseus's leg.

His owl nipped his ear in affection before flying out into the night. As he blew out the candle and climbed into the bed, he couldn't help but picture the girl who he had nearly crashed into a King's Cross Station.

Nor could he help the small blush that crossed his face.

* * *

" _Was now really the best time?" he yelled, as he pulled a crate into the path on their pursuers._

" _Come on Peter!" she teased, "Live a little!". The girl, probably a year or two younger than he was back then, vaulted over a parked car._

 _He grinned as he followed her out of the market place._

 _He noticed her around the corner, driving her elbow through the driver's window of a Honda Civic. The car alarm blared violently through the industrial park alleys._

" _Get in the passenger seat Peter," she instructed, mirth flitting through her kaleidoscopic eyes._

" _Are you sure about that?"_

 _She rolled her eyes, "Please. I've been hotwiring cars since I was four. Get in the bloody car."_

" _Aye aye Captain Ellie," he replied sarcastically, as she slipped into the driver seat and worked away at the wiring._

 _They stopped at an aged pub in a small village in the middle of the peak district._

" _We're out of fuel."_

" _Yeah, well no shit," he responded, grinning like a madman._

" _Do we split here?" she asked, sitting her petite nine-year-old frame on the hood of the car._

" _Yeah."_

 _There was a rather sullen silence. They had gotten along like siblings; as thick as thieves one could say (rather appropriately)._

" _Thanks for getting the watch," he said, as he fingered the divine piece of jewellery, "It honestly felt like it was calling to me."_

" _No problem, man," Ellie replied, giving him a smile as she adjusted the floppy cap on her head, "Manchester was getting boring anyway."_

 _They shook hands and went their separate ways._

 _Ellie was on a train, headed to Glasgow. As she skilfully evaded the ticket officer, she couldn't help but smile as she recalled the boy with unstable, sea-green eyes._

 _Percy was on a double-decker bus, headed to Sheffield. As he ducked under the warden's watch, he couldn't help but smile as he recalled the girl with ever-changing multi-coloured eyes._

 _Both remembered how they had fit together with a spark._

 _Figuratively. And literally._

* * *

 _ **First thing: I have a poll up on my profile. Go check it out if you want. I'll put up reminders of its existence regularly. It's about Percy (obviously) and his love life (and I want to make it super realistic too)**_

 _ **Second thing: (Jamie, if you are reading this, you cannot tell anyone about this. I am being one hundred percent serious. No one else should know unless they find this themselves.)**_

 _ **THE MAIN AUTHOR'S NOTE ENDS HERE. AFTER THIS IS ME LETTING OUT SOME FRUSTRATION AND EMOTIONS THAT I NEED TO RELEASE. YOU CAN IGNORE THIS IF YOU WANT.**_

 _ **It has been five months since I updated. There's a reason it took so long for me to do this.**_

 _ **Around June, I started feeling irrelevant after a group of people I thought were my friends betrayed my trust. It hurt a lot. I remember thinking to myself 'Why do they feel no remorse for what they have done. Can't they see that it has upset me?'. I took a day off to recollect myself, and I came back to jesting and metaphorical rubbing of salt in the wounds.**_

 _ **I became suicidal. No one noticed. I had the decency to hide it from everyone else, because they didn't need my sadness. I cried myself to sleep a lot. I hated myself and who I was. Did people simply view me as someone to throw away when I get boring?**_

 _ **I also know that I fell in love with a girl that I knew I couldn't be with. She's been my best friend for more than two years and she was the reason I got out of depression a while back.**_

 _ **She doesn't understand how much she means to me. I tried to get over it because it wouldn't do anything great for our friendship, but she's the most amazing person I've ever met. I hide it from everyone and it hurts everyday.**_

 _ **I guess I'm still here. I am no longer suicidal. I think I can narrow it down to two things. I read somewhere that Suicide doesn't end the pain, it passes it on. This made me realise that I had friends who cared for me and loved me and still do. I live for the days that I spend with them. I found that I don't need her to love me the same way I love her because her presence is usually good enough to make me feel happy. When she and all my other brilliant friends (who are my family by bond), I become the happiest person on earth.**_

 _ **When I realised this, I finally found the inspiration I needed to start writing this chapter, so I thank my family to the heavens and back for helping me see the light in the dark.**_

 _ **P.S. If you are reading this, please don't let this get in the way of our friendship. I don't think I'll ever change the way I feel about you but nothing will ever change. It doesn't need to.**_

DarwinAGS


End file.
